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"Brethren!" Donnie called, hiding his nerves with over the top zeal. "I have a proposal—"
"You proposed to someone?!" Mikey interrupted with a gasp.
Bewildered, Donnie stopped short and sputtered, "I—What? No—"
"Someone proposed to you?!" Mikey squealed, shaking his fists in excitement. "Donnie! I didn't even know you were dating someone!" He paused to frown. "Wait, why didn't I know you were dating someone?" Eyes suddenly going wide and shiny with sadness, Mikey asked, "Donnie, why didn't you tell me you were dating someone?"
Donnie stared at his youngest brother in horror. How had this gone so spectacularly off the rails already? "I didn't—!"
"I don't think you're ready t' be datin' anyone," Raph said, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning sternly. "An yer definitely too young t' be gettin' married."
"I am not—!"
"Besides, what kind of desperate loser would propose to you?" Leo asked, leaning heavily on Raph's arm and smirking. Donnie knew that smirk, it was the one his twin used when he was trying to figure something out and pretending he wasn't upset about it. "You know like zero people who aren't either related to you or a regular villain." Leo frowned. "Wait, it's not one of those Purple Dragon nerds, is it?"
"No?!" Donnie shouted. "I'm not engaged and no one proposed!"
"Well not with that attitude," Leo replied judgmentally, pointing at him.
Donnie made an inarticulate noise of rage and choked the air in front of him, then threw his arms out. "I have a proposal, a suggestion, I want to suggest something!"
"Ohhh, well why didn't ya just say so?" Mikey asked, tears immediately drying up.
Eye twitching, Donnie grabbed a pillow off the couch and shoved it into his face so he could scream out his frustration. When he finally ran out of air, he lowered the pillow and drew a deep breath, then slowly let it out. Collecting the ragged strings of his patience, he dug his hands into the couch pillow and clenched his teeth.
"I want to suggest that we all read a book series," Donnie blurted out before his brothers could send them off on yet another tangent. "Together."
They stared at him for a moment, then they all started laughing. In his modest opinion, the laughter lasted much longer than the suggestion deserved.
"You want us to read some nerd book of yours?" Leo asked, still chuckling a little as he wiped tears from his eyes.
"Nooo, I want you to read a sci-fi series I recently discovered," Donnie corrected. "It also comes in audiobook format."
"Wait, yer serious?" Raph asked, eyes widening.
"Yes!" Donnie shouted indignantly, throwing the pillow to the floor. "It's a really good series and I think you dumb-dumbs would enjoy it too! Also I want to talk to someone about it and April's too busy with school."
"That sounds a lot like a book club," Leo drawled. "Y'know, nerd stuff."
"Donnie's trying to share something with us that means a lot to him," Mikey said, lightly scolding. "We should encourage it." Turning to Donnie, he smiled encouragingly. "Tell us about it?"
Eager to share and seeing the opportunity for what it was, he quickly said, "Okay! It's a sci-fi trilogy called 'The Triceraton Wars'. So far only the first two books are out, but the third is being released soon and I have an in for getting an early copy!" Donnie bounced in place, hands flapping with excitement.
"Did you hack the author's computer?" Raph asked flatly.
"Wh—No."
"Did you hack the publisher's computer?" Leo asked.
"No!"
"Editor's computer?" Mikey suggested.
Donnie groaned. "I didn't hack anything, I know the author's brother! He provided engineering know-how for the more technical elements of the story and suggested I might enjoy them. He was right, of course. They're almost, dare I say it? As good as Jupiter Jim?"
There was a collective gasp from his brothers.
"Blasphemy!" Raph yelled, pointing at him dramatically.
"Blas-phe-mer!" Leo added, also pointing.
"I thought I knew you, Donnie!" Mikey cried.
"There are turtle aliens!" Donnie shouted over their caterwauling.
That shut them up quickly and they stared at him for a moment.
"What, for real?" Leo asked, any hint of drama replaced with a casual tone.
"Yes for real," Donnie sniffed indignantly and crossed his arms over his chest while sticking his nose in the air, "and they're even the heroes!"
"Hero turtle aliens?!" Mikey repeated excitedly, eyes sparkling.
"And they fight evil alien dinosaurs," Donnie added. He was pretty sure he finally had their attention.
Raph's eyes widened and his hands came up to press against his own cheeks. "Oooooh." He looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "What'd ya say about audiobooks?"
"I've already downloaded that and a PDF copy to all your phones!" Donnie exclaimed in a rush, bouncing on his toes. "You won't regret this! And after you're done, I want to talk about everything! Shelldon is also in the book club."
His brothers all pulled out their phones, staring at them in surprise as they discovered both a written and audio version of The Fugitoid and Trouble with Triceratons easily available to them.
Something seemed to occur to Leo suddenly and he looked up from his phone to eye Donnie suspiciously. "Wait, how do you know the brother of a published author? Like, well enough to get book recs from him?"
"Oh, he's my counterpart from another dimension who volunteers at the Mystic Library."
Donnie's brothers stared at him for a moment as his words sunk in, then collectively shouted, "What?!"