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They were supposed to be in Tahiti.
In a predictable course of cosmic events, O’Neil-Hamato luck struck and a once-in-a-century storm snowed in all of New York City, freezing subway lines and grounding planes for the foreseeable future. With Splinter, both Caseys, Leo, Raph, and Mikey in Japan for Christmas (to reconnect with estranged Hamato there) Donnie and April were stuck. The plan had been to spend Christmas in Tahiti and then fly to Japan to spend New Year’s with the rest of the family, finishing off their honeymoon there and going home sometime in mid-January.
Donnie was currently face down in his board shorts and straw hat, bemoaning the cruelty of the universe while April face-timed Leo to fill them in on their grounded status.
“I would portal you guys, but it’s too far, and Mikey’s portaling is more time-based and we really don’t want to mess with that.” Leo, for once in his life appeared genuinely apologetic.
April had been looking forward to sunny beaches and lazy floats in the warm ocean. She knew Leo had the ability to portal across the planet, he was just being overly cautious since the last time he tried to get them to Tahiti, they almost fell into the Null Dimension.
Donnie’s wailing sad moan had Leo quirking a brow.
“We’ll make the best of it.” She sighed, “The weather report says the storm should clear enough for flights by New Year’s, we’ll be able to leave for Japan at least. The airline has already refunded us fully – took some Karen behavior, but we got the money back and a worthless voucher.”
The call ended leaving April sitting on the couch with her husband on the floor throwing a gentle tantrum.
“The universe hates me.” he whined into the floor.
April would disagree with the universe hating them, but since all her birthdays were cursed and she couldn’t keep a stable job to save her life, April was resigned for a cursed inconvenienced life. Even their wedding had to be postponed so many times April nearly convinced Donnie to just go to the courts instead of doing a ceremony. Hamato-O’Neil persistence prevailed and at last they were married.
Now if only they could get to the honeymoon…
“Why couldn’t flights be grounded while we’re in Tahitiiiii?” Donnie continued to grovel, stiff as a board, like he was some sort of discarded CPR dummy.
Determined for their extended stay at home to not be a bust, April looked around the Lair for something to do. Donnie got bored of puzzles quickly, scrabble just ended in arguments on what is and isn’t a word, and decorating the Lair had been done a week prior – leaving the turtle home a bright festive underground wonderland. Remembering the baking supplies Mikey just stocked before the trip April smiled.
“Get up Dee, we’re making gingerbread!” she shouted shooting up like a rocket.
Donnie’s face down position changed just enough to squish his cheek into the cold concrete of the filthy floor. “Spicy cookies will not make me feel better.”
“They’re only spicy because Mikey puts too much ginger in them.” April stood over him, he stared at her shoes, “We’re using my grandmother’s recipe, so get up, we’re making gingerbread turtles and train car rooms.”
“Forlorn sigh. Okay.”
She had to call her mother to get the recipe since it had been years since she looked at the O’Neil cookbook. Now the dough was made and rolled out, the oven preheated and ready to go. Supplies for decorating laid out in color coded order as Donnie set it. She had wanted it to be organized by candy type, but Donnie had changed it when she wasn’t looking. Typical.
“Donnie, come on man, these need to go in the oven.” April tapped her foot, impatiently waiting with her own tray of vague rectangle and square pieces and turtle shaped ninjas waiting to be baked.
“Art cannot be rushed.” Donnie had a laser level, bent over the table, eye critically scanning the perfectly flat and squared gingerbread dough.
“If you handle the dough too much its gunna get tough.” She warned.
With careful precision Donnie transferred his creations to a baking sheet and carefully laid them in the hot oven. April threw hers in next to his.
“Careful!” he pushed his wife away to fix the trays.
April had already set the timer.
“Well. That wasted approximately 20 minutes and I’m still sad.” He said while chewing on some left over cookie dough.
“Aren’t you worried about salmonella?”
Donnie chuckled and shoved more dough in his face, “No, as a reptile, I’m immune.” The last of the dough went down his gullet, “Besides American eggs rarely actually carry salmonella. The warning on packaging is just for companies to cover their bases in case the disease does slip through the cracks.” He moved to the sink to wash the flour and sugar from hands and arms. There was no saving his purple tank-top nor his purple-leafed board shorts that somehow also got covered in flour. April was not sparred in her coverage. She had gotten egg on her sweater after an egg cracking trick went horribly wrong.
“If you say so.” April said leaning on the counter. “This sucks though. It’s Christmas in two days and we have no one to hang out with. My mom left for Trinidad to visit extended family since she knew we would be gone, your side is in Japan, my uncle’s dead, I don’t got grandparents and neither do you, who knows where Draxum is. Sunita is in India with her family for the holidays. We’re stuck and lonely.” She fell into the counter, uncaring if the flour would get stuck in her hair and face.
“It is a rather annoying conundrum.” The sink turned off and her green man turned around with a wash cloth ready to clean the counter. “We’ll make due, as we always do.”
“Should be our family motto.” She snatched the wash cloth from him to clean her floured face.
“On the bright side.” He said getting into her space, pulling her body close to his as he leaned over until their faces nearly touched, “We’re completely alone. Together. With no annoying brothers to interrupt us or mother and fathers to tell us to behave.”
April felt flush as she giggled, smacking him away from her with that wet rag that made him yelp and whine as he was hit point blank in the face.
“Not while we have something in the oven!”
“Fiiiine!” he fake whined, “But you get to clean this mess. I’ll make the glue- icing. For the gingerbread.”
“If I see a bottle of Elmer’s Donnie…” she warned.
“Ha! As if I would be so juvenile to use school glue.” He reached for another bowl, “If anything I’d use Gorilla glue or perhaps my F.A.B spray – you know I just got an email from the FDA that they’re looking to use my spray for medical uses?” she had heard, he gushed over it during the reception dinner. “I mean, I was already making it for medical use after the Kraang Invasion since it did so well gluing Leo and Raph’s shells together, but for this to help the general public!?” Donnie danced in place, hugging the bowl as he squealed, “Oh I’m so excited! Maybe I should roll out colors! If doctors and veterinarians use this for casts or stitching maybe I’ll give the patients options for colors! Who doesn’t want purple stitches!?”
“You promised no work during our honeymoon Dee.” April playfully reminded him.
“Psh, as if I hadn’t seen you write while I wasn’t looking.” He scoffed now holding a bag of powdered sugar. It was almost gone.
April held up her hands in defeat. She and Casey had been tracking the remains of the Foot Clan since the boys and Splinter had washed their hands of them. That sort of compliance had let them rise in the first place and April (Casey too) weren’t taking that chance. The boys knew, and stayed out of the way – only offering help if they asked.
“We’re married to our work.” She checked the timer. They still had at least ten minutes.
While Donnie flipped through Mikey’s dessert recipe book, April cleaned the counter and took her egg-covered sweater off. It was a silly Christmas sweat Splinter had given her before they left for Japan. Palm trees covered in Christmas lights with Santa under the shade drinking a piña colada. Ugly as sin, but perfect for the flight that never happened.
“We don’t have enough powdered sure for Mikey’s ‘concrete icing’.” Donnie hummed, “He did mention feeling like he forgot something in check out.”
“Wanna brave the outside and go to the nearest corner store?” as she said it, the timer went off.
“No. I don’t.” Donnie grumbled, he didn’t like the cold much. Tolerating it during their Snow Days and was willing to make trips up top for food and entertainment – but as a turtle, all he wanted to do was burrow under the kotatsu and sleep the cold months away.
Which, April thought fair – but she loved the snow, loved winter, loved the winter holidays. The stank eye Donnie gave her when she brought the Christmas box out the week before Halloween could have shot her dead if she wasn’t immune to his glares.
The Lair now was filled with shining tinsel garland that twinkled with the multicolored fairy lights. The tree Raph had brought down glittered with baubles and lights bringing holiday joy to the projector room. Leo had helped her hang stockings, Donnie had helped wire the place so all the lights wouldn’t blow a fuse, all the while Mikey and her went hog-wild decorating with Splinter’s careful eye and dictations on what should go where.
Even the bathrooms weren’t spared with hand towels embroidered with pine trees and seasonal bath mats Leo had insisted on. Did Donnie complain the whole time? Yes. Did he have fun? The purple turtle wouldn’t admit it, but he did, she knew (the whole family knew) he’d been prepared for days, having had his tools and designers’ eye sharpened, so to speak.
“That’s fine Dee.” She said placing the hot trays of gingerbread on the counter to cool. “I’ll go myself, the wind should have died down by now and it’s not that far.”
The closing of the oven nearly drowned out Donnie’s weary sigh. “No, you shouldn’t go alone, and I shouldn’t be trusted alone with freshly baked cookies, I’ll go with you.” April beamed at him, she knew he wouldn’t let her go alone with the weather this bad. “Let me get dressed in the appropriate clothing.”
It was never quiet on the streets of New York. The closest to silence the city had ever been was during the Aftermath, yet even then, people shouted, crowded, and carried on. Extreme weather had nothing on them after that fiasco. Proven when April and Donnie found they weren’t the only ones making a run for the nearest bodega. Dozens of people braved the whipping winds and freezing temperatures for that gallon of milk or lil treat. Rowdy teens threw snowballs at friends despite the snow and wind making it hard to see past fifteen feet.
Watching the teens gave April a wicked idea.
While Donnie huddled in his (at least) three layers to stave the blistering winds, April leaned over near an abandoned car and scooped up a fistful of snow. Donnie huddled further into his scarf, hugging himself as they trudged through knee-deep snow (thankfully, the sidewalk they walked on had been shoveled) – so the poor turtle didn’t notice his treacherous wife form a perfect snowball and throw it at his head.
“Gah!” he flailed batting icy crystals from his eyes and cheek.
April laughed, running ahead for she knew his revenge would be swift.
And swift it was, she felt hastily made balls pelt her back as she ran.
“Is that all you got!?” she taunted from behind a phone pole, earning a splash of snow glancing her nose as his latest ball hit.
“You are so lucky I left my spider-arm battleshell at home!” he playfully growled forming another ball and throwing it. This time, April was not fast enough to dodge, having bent over to grab more snow of her own. It hit her shoulder, exploding more snow into her face.
“Cold!” she shouted, shuddering.
“That’s what you get!” Donnie mocked, shaking out cold hands.
Another snowball sailed past her head, smacking into a car and setting the alarm off.
They ran away giggling, shoving each other as they rounded the block, only for April to hit Donnie again. This time he managed to bring up his arms to protect his face.
“Hey!”
“Nyueh!” she stuck her tongue out and rolled behind a street mail box in time for several snowballs to launch towards her.
Desperately, she dug into the greying snow to get her own ammo. April’s gloves where starting to soak through. The snow that had accumulated wasn’t good for snowballs. Too loose, too wet. The kind that turned to concrete overnight.
There was a reason April always made sure to be on Donnie’s team during snowball fights.
And that reason was: Donnie was never afraid to fight dirty and had weirdly crazy aim for this specific activity.
She should have known picking a fight with Donatello would end up with her covered in powdered snow and colder than she was minutes ago.
“I think I’ve proven my point.” He said shining his gloves on his coat.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t let it inflate your giant head more.” April pouted dusting herself off.
The corner store was just across the street and Donnie’s breath had stopped ghosting the air three snowballs to the face ago. He needed to get inside and warm up soon, and April wouldn’t say no to some questionable taquitos that have probably been spinning in the warmer at the counter since the dawn of time.
The bell chimed as she held the door open for Donnie who had to duck a little to get in. Just enough that the lady at the counter stared, hand going under the counter. The door chimed again as she let it go and April turned on her charm, “You carry powdered sugar? My husband and I were making gingerbread and turns out we’re out of icing!” the bodega was small, barely enough room for one person to go down an isle at a time, it made Donnie look absolutely huge.
“Isle two. No funny business, I call cops real fast.” Said the lady.
“Oh yea, sure, because I’m a mutant makes me a criminal. Real classy lady.” Donnie snarked with a snort. His scarf covered most of the lower half of his face, and his bandana and hat covered most of the rest. Still there was a sliver of green between the two, plus his obvious shape and three fingers.
The lady had the audacity to scoff back and mutter something near intelligible. April chose to ignore the rude lady, but her cranky significant other would not and shot back in her language just what he thought of her. The lady’s face was red, and Donnie looked smug as he turned from the counter and went down the candy isle.
If the lady called the cops, they’d be long gone before any of them bothered to get into their pre-warmed patrol cars, but April didn’t want to leave the warm store just yet.
“You just gotta antagonize everyone?” April scolded him as he joined her in the baking isle.
“Maybe she shouldn’t call me a freak in my father’s language. I don’t look Asian so it gives me ample opportunity to correct the ignorant.” Donnie’s basket was full of candies traditionally used to decorate gingerbread and some of his favorite snacks. She added her armful to his basket.
She wouldn’t say he and his brothers didn’t look like Lou Jistu when he was their age. They had the same eye shape, the same smiles, the way they held themselves was very reminiscent of a childhood hero and father. And, she’s seen them human before when Big Mama gifted them cloaking brooches on each of their eighteenth birthdays. A sort of tradition among yokai. When they tested them out, they could have been literal clones of Splinter when he was human. The same noses, the same sharp cheeks (except Mikey with his baby round cheeks retained well into adulthood), it was all Hamato Yoshi. And while Raph looked like a Yoshi that went into body building, he still looked like his dad. Leo looked the closest, everything from skin color to the shape of his head (though Leo’s chin was more square).
At the counter the lady was significantly more polite, especially once she overheard them talking about their trip to visit family in Japan once planes were able to leave their great city.
It always amazed April how fast Donnie’s opinion on people could turn the moment they were nice to him.
They paid, April had her dubious hot food, and they left back outside into the blistering cold.
“She said her plans were also ruined by this storm. She has a sister in Japan that she wanted to visit and meet the nieces and nephews, but now she has to wait till New Year’s.” Donnie had a bounce to his step. He made a friend. Probably. April just knew they were frequenting that particular bodega from now on.
“Let’s get underground Donnie, my taquito already froze.” April suggested bumping him down an ally she knew would have a manhole that would connect to the Lair at some point. The sewers were cold, but not nearly as cold as above, it wouldn’t do the city any favors to let sewage freeze.
It took some manhandling, but the frozen manhole cover was removed and April went down first so she could catch the bags Donnie lowered down. He barely made it down the hole, made for human proportions, she could hear him grumbling as the hump of his shell scraped against the metal and concrete. If he had a battle shell on, he wouldn’t have fit. Even Mikey had troubles getting in and out of holes now – Donnie had to make special entrances and exits to the sewers all over the city for them. Tunnels that they used to jump and holler down, the boys now had to hunch over to cross.
It was funny and amazing.
Draxum had been pleased they had finally begun to grow into what he imagined.
Back at the Lair, they quickly stripped off their winter outerwear since the home was kept pleasantly warm. It was almost too hot for April, but it was nice to wear just a t-shirt and pajama pants around the ex-train station. She just had to remind herself that she married into a group of reptiles and an old rat.
Donnie’s once sour mood had brightened just a teeny bit. The corners of his mouth had lifted. Already the bowl was filled with powdered sugar and whatever else Mikey’s recipe needed for the perfect gingerbread glue.
They idly chatted. Donnie pretending not to notice April rearranging the candy by type instead of color, but then further organizing the types by color, green hands unclenched the spatula as he saw. Compromise was key when dealing with Donnie, and April didn’t mind this type of compromise. The organization of candies was nothing to her, just something for her to do while she waited for her piping bag.
It was this moment, munching on a few candies that she realized (not for the first time) that she wanted to do this forever. With Donatello. Just. Exist in the same room. Doing nothing of consequence. Shoving their disappointment at a failed honeymoon way way down with sweet cookies. She suddenly wanted the others around her. She wanted to hear Mikey shout at Raph for eating all the cookies before they were even cold enough to decorate. She wanted Splinter’s television show in the background as he shouted for the boys to save some for him. April wanted to have her mom drinking coffee and gossip with Donnie while Leo stole more and more candies off his brother’s houses before they noticed. She even, for the briefest of seconds, imagined a few toddlers screaming in the background, chasing each other around the counter in circles.
“April?” Donnie poked her with a piping bag, his already filled and his perfect pieces ready for building.
“Huh? Oh.” April shook her head, his raised brow was a question on what she had zoned out for, “Just thinking. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Lair this quiet before.”
Even in the Aftermath, the Lair was full of noises. Splinter’s TV the constant background noise. The boys were never quiet in their home. Their voices rising above the whoosh of flowing pipes and the distant vibration of traffic up above. The echoing squeaks of rats through tunnels and skittering of stray cats brought in by the promise of food and a warm couch. Tonight was free of those sounds. And it felt almost… lonely.
“It is indeed very quiet.” Donnie said, his voice sounding like a boom despite it being his indoor voice.
The fridge kicked in a defrost cycle and the cadence of the whirring changed.
Without another word, Donnie’s eyes flashed white and sound came from around them. He’d ‘remotely’ turned on the radio. The station announced itself and listed off sponsors for this hour of holiday music. Home for the Holidays begun to play and Donnie hummed along with April.
Her hands were sticky by the time she finished her house. Donnie had his tongue sticking out in a way she knew he was intensely concentrating. No surprise that his icing was in straight lines and each wall was perfectly straight. The candy decorations were lacking but the icing lines was immaculate.
“You gunna actually use all that, ooorrr…” she had run out of cinnamon buttons and needed more for her train car roof.
“Yes.” He stressed.
She stole some anyway, he squawked nearly toppling the roof he was putting on. “Thief!” he accused, “I need those for the lights!”
“Well then, hurry up and decorate, it doesn’t take that long to assemble.” April was quick to place her roof tile decorations on before he could take them back. Sure her train car was sloppy and a lil crooked, but it had charm! It looked delicious, unlike Donnie’s that looked like it came from some sort of clay animation studio, it was just too perfect.
“I have to wait for the icing to dry before putting on another piece, otherwise it’ll look like your monstrosity.” He scoffed, tongue once again peeking out as he carefully placed the last roof piece.
“You know this is meant to be eaten right?” April snapped the head off a turtle gingerbread and ate it. She had even made some of herself, twin poofs and everything.
“And?” Donnie rolled his eyes, moving on to more people cookies to decorate. He had decorated a cookie in-between walls of the gingerbread train car. “Give me back my candy, I need them for Mikey’s eyes.”
“You may have, two.” She flicked two at him and he glared at her with no heat. “What do you want for dinner?” she asked. Since she was done she might as well get dinner started.
He shrugged, “What do people traditionally eat two days before Christmas?”
She shrugged as well, getting up to check the pantry for things that would go bad once they were gone. The Hamato family trip had been very impromptu and right after the mid-winter shopping trip so there was a lot of perishables that were likely going to rot if they weren’t there to eat them.
“Take out?” she questioned. There was no way she was going to order food in this weather.
“Is Hueso’s open? I could have pizza, and there’s a direct sewer route from here to Run of the Mill we could use instead of traversing the snow again.” Donnie suggested.
“I’ll call.” In truth, April didn’t feel like cooking. She’d grown lazy with Mikey or Splinter cooking all the time.
She watched Donnie carefully place small white Hershey kisses on the seams of the train car, making it look spiky. Then he moved on the windows, placing tiny sprinkles around the edges. She looked over to hers and felt a little silly. It was messy, with gumdrop windows and peppermint edging. She was just throwing things on it with no real plan, just vibes.
The phone continued to ring until it timed out and a message came over the dial tone. “Run of the Mill is closed for the holidays. I will see you, my beautiful customers, next year. Buenos Dias, and if you are a certain pepino, I am sure you can survive without my pizza for a few weeks.”
She sighed.
“Even Hueso must be out of the country.” April sighed, she’d been hoping for pizza too.
“Must be. He hadn’t been able to go to Mexico during Halloween because his son had gotten ill. He must have decided to do Christmas instead.” Donnie looked up, finally done with his perfect creation.
April watched with amusement when he took several pictures from all different angles, before horror took over and he unhinged his jaw shoved the whole train car in his mouth. He chewed a little, crunching candies and spilling gingerbread crumbs everywhere, before one last swallow.
“What the hell Donnie!?” April screeched.
“What?” he blinked at her, licking his lips, “You just said they’re meant to be eaten.”
“Yeah! In like a day or two!” she yanked her gingerbread away from him, it wobbled.
“And eat stale dusty gingerbread? Gross.” He leaned over to open the fridge dragging out a carton of milk.
“I’ve seen you eat pizza slices off the floor.”
Donnie had no defense against that. He blinked at her with wide eyes then gulped milk straight from the carton.
“Who raised you?” April was at her wits end with him.
“A rat.” He said covering his burp while whipping the excess milk off his face.
“Unbelievable. I want a divorce.”
“Good thing I made you sign that prenuptial.” He said with a smile.
“Just for that, you’re starving.”
“I can cook you know. All you had to say was you didn’t want to cook.” Donnie leaned back over to put the milk back.
April let go of her precious house. “Fine. Make sure you season this time.” She grabbed her precarious creation and left for the living room, “I’ll get some movies set up. Jupiter Jim’s Christmas vacation?”
“Sure. Make sure to put that in the fridge tonight, you’ll attract the rats.”
“Yeah, yeah.” April didn’t take him seriously. She’d never seen rats in the new Lair. Probably some mystic do-hickey or something right? Rat traps? Either way, she knew the Hamato home was as clean as any abandoned train station turned turtle and giant rat habitat could be. Definitely smelled better than the last one, that’s for sure.
April was in the middle of making a little comfy blanket fort when Donnie squatted over the entrance.
The sudden shadow sent her heart to her throat, “Donatello!” she shouted, refusing to admit his sudden appearance had startled her.
“Who else would it be-mph!”
She threw a pillow, the force of which send him sprawling on his back.
As she crawled out, he propped himself on an elbow, “I merely came to inform you that dinner is done. I made burgers with the hamburger Mikey left in the fridge. The fries are in the oven and should be done any second.” As if on queue, the oven beeped obnoxiously.
“Thought you were a giant rat.” She didn’t bother to help him up, it was his fault, startling her like that.
“He’s in Japan and likely getting more respect than I am in my own home.” He grumbled getting up.
“I live here now too.” April scoffed.
“Because there’s no rent or utility bills.” Donnie shot back.
“You didn’t like any of the apartments we looked at.”
“I couldn’t even turn around in most of them. Do humans enjoy simulated canned sardines? And half of them didn’t even have a kitchen sink!”
“You liked the one on Staten Island.”
“Before you told me we were in Staten Island. I would rather fight the Kraang again than live on that garbage heap.”
“You grew up in a literal sewer!” she cried out grabbing plates.
“Still a better place to live than that close to Jersey.” He dug for condiments and placed the chopped vegetables on the counter.
They moved down the two-person assembly line to make their burgers, “I suppose living rent free is a plus, even though I need to be extra careful not to smell like musty pipes.” April conceded.
“My filtration and air purifiers are flawless my dear.” He grabbed two patties out of four to make a double decker. “And you do have to pay rent.”
“Excuse me?”
“The payment I require is kisses.” Donnie pursed his lips mockingly, making goo-goo eyes at her.
April couldn’t help but laugh and reached up to kiss his face all over. He chortled, nearly losing his plate.
“After we eat, we should watch stupid Christmas movies until we pass out.” April placed her plate on the kitchen table, it had a single lit candle.
“Sounds like a date.” Donnie said dimming the lights.
The kitchen became illuminated by tiny fairy lights of several different colors, twinkling as Raph had bought the wrong ones. Twinkle lights gave Raph migraines and irritated Splinter, but they made for a nice ambiance to their little dinner. The table had a feint orange glow to it, making the burgers look ridiculous. The American classic didn’t really scream ‘romantic dinner’ but she never minded such convections and rules.
Their first date was getting kicked out of a haunted house because Donnie accidentally ninpo blew up an animatronic for startling him. To be fair, they were fresh from a Purple Dragon’s fight and it wouldn’t have been farfetched for them to plant a murder robot in the haunted house – especially when Donnie loudly declared they were late for their date. They ended up sneaking into a different fair ground and hanging out there – so the date wasn’t a total bust.
After they’d went their separate ways for the nightly routine, April tugged Donnie towards the projector room, “We’re a little old for forts, but hey, no one’s here to judge us.” It was large enough to stuff him in and have some room for her to cuddle into his side. The open face allowed them to see the entirety of the projector screen, and already Home Alone was on standby (she couldn’t find Jupiter Jim’s Christmas Vacation).
“Nonsense, you’re never too old for plush fortifications.” Donnie huffed. He wasted no time in crawling in and getting under layers of blankets, one was even electric and already pre-warmed. He practically purred under it.
Once he was settled April finished tying her head scarf and shuffling in after him. She wiggled under the blankets, flush to his side. He threw an arm under her, the back of her neck connecting to his shoulder. Donnie’s skin cool to the touch – likely still struggling to warm back up after being outside. Normally he was as warm as her – winter just did some funky stuff to the boys.
He sighed and pressed play.
“This isn’t Tahiti.” Donnie commented with an air of sadness. “We should be on the beach – or sleeping off our flight in the air conditioned hotel. Instead we’re freezing in New York watching a Christmas movie about a child accidentally left home and cleverly fighting off would-be robbers.”
“Crazy how they forgot a whole ass child though.”
“It’s even crazier that the robbers continue to try and one up a kid who clearly has more brains than they have combined. I would have just left and tried a different house.”
“Of course you would, you crook.” April slapped his plastron, covered in his purple cotton jammies.
It was halfway through the second Hallmark movie about a business woman who finds she doesn’t need her amazing career to be happy, all she needs is a slightly buff average white-man and his estranged young daughter to be happy. April had loudly scoffed and ranted about the ridiculous heteronormity of it all. Borderline sexist in a way (overtly in the first one), only to find Donnie had fallen asleep.
His head had tilted back and over, hanging onto the pillow by a prayer.
Quietly, she moved his head back towards her, his eyes peeked open, ever the vigilant ninja, smiled, then closed his eyes again. His light warming breaths tickling the side of her head. Skin as warm as her let her know he was going to sleep deeply tonight.
They were supposed to be in Tahiti, but a Christmas honeymoon at home wasn’t so bad, not if they were together.
April tucked them in tighter and closed her eyes, letting the obnoxious Christmas movie lull her to sleep.