Hello, everyone. So here it is. My first TMNT fanfic on this site. I usually post on DA (under the same username). I just want to take a moment out to dedicate this story to my friend, Lolita Queen. She's an amazing person and literally came into my life because of TMNT. We have these turtles and our OTP to thank for the start of our friendship, but it was the two of us who kept it going. I'm excited to present this story not only to her, but for her. Read her fics too!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my story.

When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.

-Mark Twain

There were several reasons why this would never work. Countless. Each one flashed through Donnie's mind one by one, but he didn't bother stating them. He could tell from the look on Leo's face that he didn't want to hear anything against this ridiculous idea of his. It was clear that he wouldn't listen or accept anything other than total support. So instead of wasting his breath trying to convince his older brother that his idea was one of the worst he had ever heard, Donnie decided to go with a different approach.

"So you're using me?"

It was easy to make Leo feel guilty and Donnie couldn't help but feel a small bit of satisfaction as his brother shifted uncomfortably in front of him. He even had the decency to blush and cast his eyes towards the ground. It was rare to see the leader show something akin to regret or shame, and Donnie loved watching every moment of it. He leaned back in his chair while Leo stood in front of his desk, like a student in front of his principal, and found the courage to respond.

"It's not like that."

"You want to pretend to date me for seven days in order to make Raph jealous so he'll notice you more and maybe possibly fall in love with you and then you magically pick him over me leaving me behind in the memories of our seven days of lust and love and fantasy."

"Okay that's really dramatic, Donnie!"

"But is it wrong?"

Seeing the guilt etch itself in Leo's face would never, ever stop being satisfying to Donnie. Leo quickly backed down as he tried to think of a noble response, but of course one wouldn't come to him. It wasn't possible to be noble in this situation. He could only be honest.

"I suppose… I am using you. I'm sorry, Donnie, I just…."

Donnie sighed as Leo drifted off. That guilty face was replaced with sadness and now it was Donnie's turn to feel guilty. "People do crazy things when they're in love. I knew you had a thing for Raph, but I didn't know you loved him this much."

"I do. I really do. I just want him to notice me. To see me as more than just a brother and a leader."

"But Leo, have you ever considered that maybe he doesn't feel the same? And that he never will?" Perhaps it was harsh to destroy Leo's dreams so quickly and so bluntly, but Donnie thought it was worse that Leo even thought he could force someone to love him out of jealousy and spite. It was important that Donnie tell him everything he was thinking no matter how much it hurt. Out of all of his brothers he considered himself the only proper realist of the group. He could handle the truth of any situation right to his face and accept it as fact, whereas his brothers denied the truth, ignored it, hid from it, whatever they could do to pretend reality was fiction. There were times when Donnie had his moments where he pretended the sky was green and the grass was blue, but for the most part he accepted reality for what it was: harsh, cold, mean, uncaring, lonely, and filled with people ready to use one another for personal gain.

Though Leo stayed silent at Donnie's words and that was how he knew how badly they hurt him. Donnie liked to think he knew his brothers in and out and he knew that when Leo was stunned silent it was because something bothered him greatly. The leader just stared at the genius turtle, his lip quivering slightly as he waited for the other to continue speaking. Donnie personally wanted to hear what Leo had to say to his harsh, hurtful words, but Leo refused to speak and Donnie knew he wouldn't.

"Not that I blame you for doing this," Donnie muttered, fiddling with a pen if only to keep himself from paying attention Leo's cold stare. "Everyone wants love and everyone will do whatever they can to get it."

Leo continued to remain silent as Donnie drummed his fingers on his desk, contemplating this insane idea. For Leo it was his last and only chance to get Raph to notice him. Raph was a tempted man, but he was tempted for things that had nothing to do with the eldest turtle. If Leo could only get his attention, then he knew he could sway him to fall in love with him.

"You're really arrogant, you know that Leo?"

"What?"

Donnie finally met Leo's steel gaze with a fiery glare of his own. He was having fun making his normally composed older brother squirm. "To think that it'll only take seven days to make someone fall in love with you. To even think you have the capabilities of making someone fall in love with you. To use your younger brother in your nefarious schemes and think I won't mind. You're arrogant."

"Listen, Donnie, if you don't want to do it just say it instead of sitting here and—"

"Though I guess I would rather have an arrogant leader than an unconfident one." Donnie stood and interrupted his brother, partly enjoying teasing him and partly punishing him for not even considering how insulting this request was. He took his time walking towards Leo and leaned on the desk beside him as he spoke. "You lead us into battles nearly every day. If you weren't arrogant you wouldn't be confident in your decisions and we would probably wind up dead. Is that what you're doing here? Using the skills you developed as a leader to make a decision based on your last resorts and best case scenarios?"

"Donnie—"

"I'll do it, Leo, but only because I want to see how this turns out for you. Matters of the heart can't be measured in beakers or examined under a microscope," Donnie said, motioning around his lab.

Once again, the look on Leo's face was grossly satisfying to Donnie. The way his eyes narrowed and how his teeth clenched let Donnie know he struck every nerve in his brother's body.

"This is just a game to you, then? One of your experiments?"

"Are you insulted? Then I guess we're even."

"I wasn't trying to insult you."

"Well, you did."

The electricity that sparked between them wasn't one of love or lust or excitement. They glared at one another as if they had been enemies their entire lives. Neither of them dared to say another word lest they break the fragile string of peace that was still between them. The tension boiled between them, slowly growing to the point where it was hard for them to even look at one another.

Then finally, Donatello let out a heavy breath.

"Enough," he said quietly, extending his hand towards Leo who titled his head. The tension broke between them as Donnie laughed at the confused look on his brother's face.

"Kiss my hand," Donnie told him.

"What?"

"You're my boyfriend now, right? For seven days at least. Glaring at one another isn't a good start to this relationship. Kiss my hand. It'll make both of us feel better. I think."

Leo's raised eyebrow didn't relax as he looked from Donnie's hand to his eyes. At first he didn't move. He stared at his brother, trying to read his face, his body language, his mind if he could, but there was nothing. Just a smile that was oddly comforting to Leo considering the situation. The sweet smile warmed Leo to the core and he swallowed hard as he took Donnie's hand and placed a gentle kiss on it. His lips hovered there for a bit and he raised his eyes to see Donnie's smile had grown even wider.

"That's better. We'll make this work for you somehow, Leo."

"Thanks, Donnie."

The day had gone by slowly for Leo. He spent all of it worrying about how Raph would react when he told him about him and Donnie. He wondered if he would care. If he would be jealous. If he would be happy for them or pretend to be happy for them. Raph was someone who was unpredictable and it was one of the reasons that Leo loved him. Nothing was ever static with Raph. Nothing was ever boring or repetitive or consistent. It was all adventure and action and passion. Leo admired him for his tenacity and strength and bravery and more things than Leo could even stop to think about. Raphael was perfect. Just perfect.

"What are you daydreaming about?"

Leo snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to see Donnie standing over him. He felt a bit awkward seeing him. How was he supposed to act now that they were technically dating? More affectionate? More caring? Or perhaps he should remain exactly how he always was. People didn't change when they started to date or so he didn't think.

"Well?" Donnie sat on the couch beside Leo and curled up against him, leaning his head on his shoulder. He smiled at how the older one tensed up, but didn't say anything about it.

"I was thinking about Raph."

"You're supposed to be thinking about me."

"Am I?"

"Jerk. You're already bad at this. I thought I would be the awkward one when it came to romance."

Leo scoffed as he leaned back on the couch and relaxed his body. "I'm not exactly trying to romance you."

"You could at least pretend like you're in love with me. Raph will never buy it if you keep acting like this. Put your arm around me or something. How is it that I'm the one telling you how to be romantic?"

"Shut up." Regardless of his aggravation Leo wrapped his arm around Donnie and pulled him closer. So far they were the only two in the living room, but it was only a matter of time before Raph and Mikey joined them. Then they could tell them the news and hopefully get some sort of reaction out of Raph. In the meantime….

"Are you comfortable, Leo?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Liar."

Leo rolled his eyes, though he willed his body to relax. He prided himself on having full control over his body and emotions and he reminded himself of that as he took deep breaths to calm his nerves.

"It's not like you've never held me before, Leo."

"I know, but… Not like this."

"Don't think of it as being any different. You're just holding me."

"But Raph—"

"Will be jealous of the affection we're giving each other. So start working on making him jealous because here he comes."

The living room suddenly became louder when Mikey and Raph entered, chatting about who was going to beat who in the new game they were playing. The chatter only silenced when the two saw Leo and Donnie cuddling on the couch together.

"You two okay?" Raph asked, taking a seat on the opposite couch. "You sick or something, Donnie?"

"I guess you could say that," Donnie said with a grin. He placed a kiss on Leo's cheek before turning his eyes to Raph. "Leo and I are dating now so this will become a normal thing."

"What? Donnie, you weren't supposed to just say it!" Leo cried. Though while he was panicking over how his brother so bluntly broke the news to everyone he missed the jealous glint in Raphael's eye that Donnie was completely aware of.

"No way! When did this happen? Today? Yesterday? Have you guys been hiding it from me and Raph? Why didn't you say anything? We could have celebrated! How did it happen? Who asked who? Do you guys make out a lot? Have you guys… You know? Done the dirty?" Mikey's questions came to a halt only when Raph smacked him in the back of the head and forced him to sit down beside him. Still, it wasn't enough to stifle Mikey's enthusiasm. They all knew it was only a matter of time before one of them began dating another and now it finally happened. Mikey had his own suspicions that Leo and Donnie would be the ones to fall in love and he gave himself a pat on the back for being correct.

"You two are good for each other, I think. You'll be happy together! Leo, you're gonna take care of Donnie, right? He needs more affection than you know!"

Donnie shook his head. "I think it's Leo who needs the affection."

"I guess Raph and I will have to try to fall in love! Or maybe we'll find love somewhere else. You remember Renet? You think she would fall in love with me?"

"Maybe!" Donnie told him with a wide smile as he wrapped his arms around Leo's waist. "There's Leatherhead as well. You like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if I like him like him, you know?"

The two younger brothers continued their pleasant conversation while Leo spoke with the true object of his affection. "And your opinion, Raph?" he asked, awkwardly rubbing Donnie's arm in an attempt to show his false love for Donnie as well as make Raph jealous. Though the response that came from the hot-headed turtle was not one that the Leo was hoping to hear.

"I'm happy for you," Raph told him. It didn't take long for whatever jealously Donnie had seen in him to disappear. "Mikey's right. You two are good for one another!"

"You think so?" Leo asked, and Donnie wondered if he was the only one who heard the disappointment in his voice.

The clever turtle rolled his eyes as he settled deeper in Leo's arms. He kept his attention on both his own conversation and Leo's, trying not to get sickened at his "lover's" attempts to pull some sort of jealous reaction out of Raph. Raph just wasn't that kind of person, and it shocked him to think that for as much as Leo claimed to love him he didn't seem to know him. Donnie wasn't concerned about the little bit of jealousy he had seen in the other turtle. He was more concerned about how his eldest brother would react when he realized this plan of his was destined to fail.