"Why did you sneak out of the lair? It's Christmas." I heard Donnie behind me, he sounded worried. I sat up straighter, trying to compose myself, I wasn't expecting any of the guys to find me in this lone playground so I had let my guard down. I wiped away my tears and tried to keep my voice even.
"Oh, I just wanted a change of scenery." I told him through the lump in my throat. It hurt to speak but I didn't want to worry one of my closest friends. More tears were stinging my eyes but I just closed them tightly, trying to keep a lid on my emotions.
"What's wrong April?" He whispered. I opened my eyes and found him kneeling in front of me, his honey brown eyes staring back at me with worry. Donnie gently put his hands on my knees, his eyes never leaving mine. I gripped the chains on the swing, the ice on them bit my hands but I didn't even flinch. Turning my head away from him, I closed my eyes once more, pulling a weak smile on my face.
"It's nothing Donnie." I told him, my voice sounded so small and pathetic, I wanted to punch myself for it. I felt his large cold hand reach up and softly touched my cheek. My eyes snapped open and I looked at him, there on his finger laid a lone tear. He looked up at me with sad and worried eyes.
"It doesn't seem like nothing to me." He whispered. The tears that I was holding back started to run down my face. I gripped the chains tighter, as my shoulders started to shake from my heart aching sobs. Donnie's strong arms incased my whole body. He patted my back and let me sob into his chest. I didn't know why but after I started crying the cold finally reached through me and froze me to the bone, almost like my tears were melting away the numbness.
"He isn't h-here Donnie." I sobbed. I didn't know if he understood me or not but I had a feeling he did because he held me even tighter.
"My dad should be here!" I yelled through my sobbing, the lump in my throat was starting to burn from the random burst of anger I was feeling. My sobs got louder and my whole body started to shake but Donnie's grip never loosened. Slowly the anger I was feeling left and it made me feel hollow inside.
"Why isn't he here?" I asked out loud. Donnie slowly pushed away and looked down at me, his warm hands never leaving my shoulders. His purple mask looked damp around his now red eyes, he was crying for me and that made my heart break even more.
"Your right April, your dad should be here and if I could I would switch places with him in a second if it would make you happy." His voice sounded a little husky from his crying and it made more tears spring to my eyes. I let go of the chains on the swing that I was holding on to so tightly and threw my arms around his neck. Donnie stiffened up but recovered quickly and put his arms around my waist.
"Please don't say that Donnie. I don't want you to disappear too." I whispered. For a few minutes neither of us said anything.
"Thank you April." He whispered back and hugged me tighter. For the first time that day I felt a real smile pull at my lips. We released one another and looked at each other. We both looked a mess but for some reason this struck me as funny and I could not stop the laugh that burst out of my mouth.
Donnie and I both had a good long laugh, to the point to where we were both crying again. Donnie called the other guys and told them that he found me and we were heading back. We both walked in silence, just enjoying each other's company.
"May I ask you something April?" Donnie asked nervously. I looked up at him and saw that he was fiddling with his fingers.
"Sure." I told him, looking back to the dark alley floor.
"What made you go to that playground?" He whispered. I stopped in my tracks and sighed. Donnie stopped beside me, giving me a worried look. I pulled my yellow scarf tighter around my neck to get rid of the random chill that ran down my spine.
"It's the playground my dad use to take me to when I was little." I whispered, looking up at Donnie, whose eyes were wide as plates. I smiled at him and continued walking, Donnie was right behind me.
"I'm sorry April I shouldn't have asked." He mumbled. I glanced over and saw that he was slumped over now and looking guiltily down at the ground. Patting his shell, I smiled over at him.
"It's no big deal Donnie, I'm just happy I got that out of my system. It was building up for a while." I told him. For some reason Donnie had stopped walking and was now just staring at me. I stopped as well and looked at him confused.
"What?" I asked. Before I knew what happened Donnie walked over and poked my shoulder. I looked down at my shoulder and then back to him, he was grinning that grin. He was up to something, Donnie stepped a few feet away and snickered.
"You're it." With that he ran down to the other end of the alley. I stood there in shock for a second or two and then I realized that for some odd reason he had started a game of tag. Without another thought I ran after him, trying to figure out where he went. I saw a shadow move behind a light post across the street and sure enough, there he was smiling at me. I ran over to him, with a determined smirk.
I was about to reach him when he ran away just in time. I chased him down alley ways, up fire escaped and even over a couple of roof tops, until finally I tagged his shell with the tip of my fingers.
"Ha! You're it!" I cheered as I ran and jumped down onto the nearest fire escape. Not looking back I kept going, taking my chances and just hoping that I had made enough ground between the two of us for me to take a breather. I put my hands on my knees taking in some air, when I felt a small tap on my back.
"Tag. You're it." I could hear the smirk in Donnie's voice. Turning around I saw Donnie already running down the sidewalk, nobody else was out so we didn't worry about anybody seeing us. I laughed as I ran after him, trying to catch up. He stopped at the lamp post up ahead and smiled back at me.
I was putting any extra energy I had into my legs, determined to catch up to him. Instead of running away from me this time Donnie just stayed far enough away from me and ran around the lamp post.
"Why did you start this game of tag?" I asked randomly, trying to just graze him. Donnie laughed at me and jumped away again.
"When my brothers and I were little and something was bothering us we would almost always play tag." While he was explaining I tried to jump on him but he was just too fast. And ran to the other side of the lamp post again. "For some reason it made us feel better and I figured it would work just as well in this situation."
I tried to go around the other way but I tripped on my own two feet and was about to fall face first into the steel pole. But instead Donnie was in front of me in a second and caught me.
Looking up at him, I laughed and poked his chest.
"You're it again." I smiled up at him. Donnie smiled back at me and held me against his chest. Under the light I could almost say that he looked handsome but I could not forget about how different we really were. Something caught my eyes above us and I looked up.
And there hanging over us was mistletoe. I looked back to Donnie and poked sky ward. He looked up as well and shook his head with a blush on his cheeks.
"I can't believe that we're actually caught under the mistletoe." He whispered nervously, trying to give me a smile. I stretched up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Donnie's face became as red as a cherry and his eyes locked on mine.
"Merry Christmas Donnie." I whispered. His blush didn't die down but he smiled back at me. He leaned down and tenderly kissed my forehead.
"Merry Christmas April." He grinned that tooth gapping grin. He took my hand in his and we headed back to his home together. And for the first time since my dad I let myself believe that it was going to be a Merry Christmas after all.
I hope that everyone liked this. This is my first time writing any TMNT stories but be on the lookout for more. I wanted to write this because I am a huge fan of Donnie and April :3 and I wanted to write a Christmas special so I compromised. I hope that everyone has an awesome Christmas/holiday. :) And reviews are always welcomed.
