((I apologize for typos and glitches. I will reread this in the morning and correct it. It's currently 5:30 in the morning and I'm TIRED.))
Donatello was never shy when he voiced his opinion on April O'Neil living in the lair with the rest of his family. At least to everyone but her. When the young teen first started living with them, it was like walking on eggshells to make sure they didn't say anything that might upset her. He would tell his brothers to watch what they said, even made a threat to stop working on new gadgets if they upset his crush. She wasn't emotional about it, in fact she took the adjustment rather well, but the genius turtle could tell there were days that she wasn't as focused or was overly focused during training.
Now she was happier, as she should be, because her dad was rescued and her life was starting to become normal again. Both she and Kirby were a little surprised at Splinter's insistence that they stayed in the lair, as the Foot Clan were still after them and the Kraang probably wasn't down for the count permanently. Kirby wasn't too keen on the idea as he had a long absence from work to explain and living in the sewers wouldn't help with April's schooling. After a long discussion however, the psychologist knew the mutant rat was correct; the Foot or the Kraang could easily capture either one of them in order to use April or lure the turtles out of hiding. However, there was a small issue. It was one thing that they had to share a bathroom with his brothers and adoptive father but now there were two families living together and one member was adapted to living with more than they actually had. The group decided they would make a few adjustments and until it was ready, they could live with April's aunt.
The purple clad turtle couldn't be happier about the arrangement. He loved the idea of being around April at all times and did everything in his intellectual powers to making living in the lair as comfortable as possible. When Kirby had been kidnapped, a lot of the furniture and unnecessary objects were sold off to put their apartment back on the market so Donatello scrounged junkyards in his spare time to find human comfort items that normally he and his brothers never needed. An extra fridge, tv, toilets, piping for showers, couches, and anything that he could get his hands on that made living in the sewers more comfortable.
Raphael teased him mercilessly but was always the first to volunteer to help out with construction. The only problem is that he was impatient on making sure all steps were taken in order. Luckily, Leonardo had a keen ability to direct the rasher turtle from cutting or welding when the time wasn't right. Donatello wasn't exactly sure how, but Michelangelo seemed to easily locate paint or fabric material when he had spoken aloud about reupholstering a couch he found or painting a room in a lair. He secretly believed that the young turtle might have rooted through the trash at a craft store long before the project had been started.
The more projects he started, the less he had started to sleep, then came the discovery of just how wonderful of an invention the coffee maker was. Kirby mentioned how when he had trouble sleeping, he often had to drink a cup of the brew to get him going in the morning and offered him a cup from one from the repaired device that Donatello had repaired just days before. He had tea in the past but the caffeine loaded in coffee made his brain go into overtime. When April had brought coffee from a shop on the surface, he worked through the night on his caffeine induced sugar high. It wasn't until his brother pulled him away from his workshop that he crashed and his family, and April, scolded him for not watching his health better.
After that, Donatello took his coffee in small increments until his tolerance was built and he managed to figure out a schedule to make sleeping and coffee work in a nice little harmony. It paid off too as his project was completed in less than a month and the O'Neil family had a place of their own, so to speak. A small section in the eastern side of the lair was converted into a "guest house". In all honesty, it looked much better than the rest of the lair with its painted white walls and semi-new looking furniture. Kirby was impressed with the abilities of the mutants while April ran and hugged the tall terrapin as tight as she could when she saw her new room. She showed him the biggest smile that he had ever seen on her since her father was recovered.
To him, it made the whole ordeal worth it.
It had been a week since the turtles helped the O'Neil's move in more permanently and Donatello had just come back from another dump scrounging mission. "Guys! You'll never believe what I found!" He held up a medium size box, the contents of which could not be seen without peering in.
"Donnie… That better not be cat or something…" their leader warned as he eyed Donatello's excited expression.
Raphael smirked, "Yeah, we already have enough trouble keeping Mikey house trained. Remember when-"
"Hey!" Michelangelo quickly cut the hotheaded turtle off before he could continue his story. "That one time was an accident! You don't scare a bro after challenging them to watch 6 of the scariest horror flicks when they haven't had a bathroom break! Do you know how much soda I drank during that time?!"
"I have to agree with Mikey on this one," Leonardo spoke up, "It took me weeks to feel comfortable walking in that area even after he cleaned it up."
"Your girlish shriek made it worth it." Raphael laughed as he recalled the memory.
Michelangelo puffed out his face, annoyance visible. "You want to talk girlish shrieks? How about I collect a couple of roaches and put them in your room while you're asleep and let's see just how high your voice can get!"
Raphael quickly cracked his knuckles "You have a death wish?!"
"Both of you knock it off!" The leader in blue quickly shouted in a futile attempt to defuse the situation.
Donatello only sighed, a frown forming on his face as he held his box closer and headed towards the lab. He loved his brothers but sometimes it felt like they did not take him seriously until he had a new toy ready for them to test out. Which, in a way, he had, but they were too busy arguing to notice it.
As he entered his sanctuary, the tall turtle set the box on his lab table. He knew he could figure out how to make his discovery work easily. All the parts were still there and what might be broken could easily be switched out. It might not look pretty but it will run. His brothers would have definitely loved his treasure if they had just listened to him but now he'll have someone else test it when he was done.
With a goofy smile on his face, he pulled out his t-phone and started to send a text to April.
…
April O'Neil had walked this maze so many times that it was almost a game to see how quickly she could navigate the sewer's complicated layout without looking where she was going. This day was different though, she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder, almost as if to make sure the items that Donatello asked her to pick up were still there. She found the request odd at first but as she thought more on it, she realized it actually wasn't. Donatello was smarter than any guy she ever met; she admired and looked up to him, even more now when she saw the personal sacrifices he had made for her lately.
His crush on her was obvious and she never said anything about it though as she was never sure of her own feelings. Before she was reunited with her father, her focus wasn't on boys, dating or anything of the sort and all she cared about was getting her life back to normal. The longer she spent with the turtles though, she knew her life would never be normal again, even when her father was rescued. At first she resented the fact that something about her drew the Kraang to attack her family but then she realized it was a blessing in disguise. Her family only grew bigger and now it's not just her and her father, but another father figure and four wonderful brothers.
April halted her movements on the last thought that passed her mind. She thought hard and wondered, did she really see all four as brothers? No, she couldn't. As much as she believed Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael were her brothers, Donatello was something different. The genius turtle was something different entirely. She was closest to him, bonded on more than the missions, the training, the Foot and the Clan. They could talk about anything and everything. She took care of him when he was sick or injured, and he vice versa. She could go to him when she needed support and he was always there, no matter the time of night.
No doubt in her mind, Donatello was her best friend. The question remained however, now that her father was safe, the enemies defeated (for the moment) and they were living with the group, could she really say they were only friends?
She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and continued towards the lair, Donatello's request making a soft clatter in her backpack as they echo along the walls of the sewer.
…
"Did you bring them?" Donatello asked as he eyed April's backpack when she walked through the workshop's door
The teen girl cocked an eyebrow, "Well hello to you too."
Donatello blushed and rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Sorry April, I'm just so excited to test this out." He chuckled and grinned, showing his famous gapped smile. "Hi April."
"Hi Donnie." April smiled back and handed the excited teenaged turtle her backpack. "Irma wasn't too thrilled in lending me these. They belong to her brother."
Donatello carefully unzipped the backpack, trying not to let his excitement cloud his control. "I'm only borrowing them for today." He peered inside before slowly reaching in and pulling out a bunch of game cases, "All I have to do is copy the ISO's to my computer and I can make my own copy to a flash drive."
"I can't believe someone would throw away a Somy Gamestation." April remarked, "People can sell broken ones for parts on the internet easily."
Donatello nodded as he carefully slipped a disc in a drive of his laptop. "Well the case was cracked and dented quite a bit, the internal memory was completely shot and it couldn't send out a video signal so the original owner probably thought it was less of a hassle to just throw it out in try to sell it. I had to replace quite a bit to make it function. The microchips are not hard to copy but they have annoying company protecting keylocks that even advance keygens have a hard time cracking and making sure none of this could be traced back to the lair, well I could just go on."
"I… suppose." April agreed, not fully comprehending Donatello's tech talk. "So how long does it take to copy a game?"
"Depends on how much content is on it. This one is pretty big. It might take an hour if lucky." Donatello held up the case to show April.
April looked on it, "Oh yeah, Irma told me that one isn't one you could beat in one sitting." She looked through the backpack and pulled out a fighter game.
The terrapin looked at it, "You be surprised how easy copying a game like that is. It's basically recycling models and with no real plot or 3D background landscapes to copy, this could take ten minutes tops."
"Well we do have an hour to kill. Want to play?"
The mutant teen perked up, "I should make sure that it actually plays a game. It will turn on and play cds and dvds, but I haven't tested an ISO yet."
"I'll take that as a yes." April grabbed the turtle's hand to pull him away from the computer and headed towards the door, only to stop. "Where did you put the system again?"
His face felt hot and Donatello knew he was blushing. 'She's holding my hand!' he inwardly cheered before clearing his throat, "It's in y-your living room" he choked out before letting out a small cry of surprise as April pulled him to her section of the lair.
April let go when they entered the newly built living area and saw the Somy GameStation on the floor, hooked up to a tv. He wasn't kidding when it said he had to replace some of the parts. On the outside alone it looked like he got creative with the tape and glue to fix the cracks and dents. A large antenna was sticking out and two homemade, bulky controllers were sitting next to it, the words "Somy" painted on. A slightly smaller one, the one that probably came with the system, was also there, only it looks like the word "somy" was sanded off then repainted.
'This is quite a bit of work… I can't believe he did this in less than a day.'
"I wanted them to match…" Donatello explained as he saw April pick up the smaller control and eye it. "That one is yours, it will fit your hands better than my brothers and I." The teen looked uncomfortable as April said nothing but continued to look at the controller. He removed his staff and leaned it against the newish couch and sat on the floor. "I'll put the game in."
April snapped out of her thoughts. "Good. I can't wait to whip you in a game." She grinned, speaking confidently.
Donatello only closed his eyes with a smirk, "I could easily beat you. What do you think my brothers and I do when we are not training?"
"You work in a lab and have no previous experience using this system. I have played with Irma's brother in the past. Who has the advantage now?" The teen girl teased as she started up the system and sat on the couch.
Donatello chuckled. "I don't exactly see you playing video games since you started training. I think I do."
"We shall see." April felt excited, itching to beat the mutant turtle at something electronic and to rub it in his face. She bluffed on having previous experience, which she did, but not to the point that it justified bragging. Somehow though, she thinks her mutant friend knew that.
As a loud gong sound started the match, they both called a time out to test each other's signature moves. April's fighter girl had a deadly whip that, despite basic logic, could lift and slam a man against a wall easily without getting too close to her target. Donatello's character however had two Qatars which only dealt low dealing damage, but at such a fast rate that they easily could overpower another character without allowing them a chance to fight back. They seemed to have picked characters that fought completely different from their own training style.
"If you get caught in one of my attacks, you're going to go down quickly." Donatello remarked as they restarted the game's match.
April only laughed, "You have to get close enough to me to do that and my whip will stop you before you have the chance!"
The gong rang first match went quickly. April was constantly jumping around and attacking from the air to avoid Donatello's close range fighting style. It didn't take long for the girl to beat the turtle's own character. The second match started almost the same way. April was leaping around and attacking the mutant, but as the match started to come to an end, she saw that she had less room to dodge but nonetheless, won.
"One more match and I win!" April gloated, smiling widely. She turned to look at her friend only to see he was concentrating hard, his tongue sticking out and staring at the screen, waiting for the "final" match to start. The third match started the same as the other two, the girl jumped in the air and sent her whip towards the terrapin's character.
Only this time, the Qatar wielder was able to dodge away from the attack and straight towards her character. In a blink the furious flurry of attacks from the assassin knocked out the whip's master, resulting in a match over.
April's mouth dropped open as she couldn't believe the luck. She once again glanced at Donatello only to see him grinning happily at her. "Your movements are predictable. " He stated, clearly proud, "The first took matches I attempted different moves and studied how you would react to then and mentally took note to try these and see if I would get repeated results. I did."
"You're just lucky, and not too bright to let me in on your plan." April retorted in a huff as the next match started. "Now that I know this, I can do something differently and win this final match. I only need one more win and you need two." She dropped her shoulders a bit as she heard Donatello chuckle at her remark.
With the forth matching underway, April attempted to try different moves in order to gain an advantage over her turtle friend. At first she seemed to be getting the upper hand but soon, just like in the last match, Donatello was able to predict the movements and got close enough to quickly knock out his opponent. The teen girl let out a frustrated growl and collapsed against the couch with a pout wiggling around in a small tantrum until she found herself upside down. She could see her friend smirking at her but didn't dare look him in the eye. She only pressed the start button to start the final match, upside down or not.
She wanted to win and wipe that smirk off his adorable face.
'Did I just think Donnie was adorable?' April thought to herself in surprise as she looked over to her mutant buddy, who once again had his tongue sticking out like he always did when he concentrated. He was so close and up close she realized that he was rather handsome as well as adorable. When had she started to see Donatello has more than a mutant turtle and now an attractive young adult? When did he evolve from her rescuer to her protector? When did he progress from a friend to almost an extension of herself?
"April you aren't even trying-" Donatello halted his fury attack as he looked over to his dream girl and jumped a bit in surprise to see she was staring at him with an odd look in her eyes. He felt himself blush a dark crimson that was apparent through his green skin. His eyes widened as he saw her draw closer to him and he felt hot and nervous, "April? What are you-"
April closed her eyes and slowly planted a soft and gentle kiss against her best friend's cheek. It felt foreign and warm against her lips and she could feel the vibrations of him gulping hard. When she pulled away and opened her eyes, she could see he was stunned in surprised of the affection given to him. It made her smile at his bashfulness.
She was about to say something when the tv let out a warning sound. She snapped out of her thoughts and noticed the game's match would end in twenty seconds. Without hesitation, she quickly mashed the buttons on her controller in a furious manner, sticking out her tongue in a mocked fashion before a loud gong emitted from the game, indicating the match was over.
April had won. Letting out an excited cheer, April sat up normally and grinned towards Donatello, who was starting to come around as he slowly turned towards the tv to see the fact that he has indeed lost the game. Realizing what she did to win the game though caused her blush and she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"Umm, Donnie?" Before she had a catch to finish, however, a shout came from nearby. They both turned to look in the direction as the other three terrapin burst though.
The orange clad turtle was the first in the room. "We heard April shouting!" Michelangelo cried out, rushing up to the teen girl and hugging her, "What did you do to her Donnie?! She's all red!"
"Nothing!" Donatello quickly protest as he waved his arms in a denying fashion. "We were playing video games and-"
"Video games?" Raphael interrupted as he peered over, "Whoa, where did you get that? That's fancier equipment then you normally find Donnie." He was impressed as he bent down to look it over.
Donatello sighed, "I was trying to show you all this earlier but you were too busy discussing Mikey's-"
"Don't… finish that sentence Donnie." Leonardo all but begged. "I don't want to have to come between them again."
"Dude, can we play this now?" Raphael asked, as he picked up the other homemade controller and looked it over.
The tallest of the group nodded, "April and I were testing it, it seems to work fine so I don't see why not."
Michelangelo let go of April and snatched the other controller from his purple loving brother. "Sweet man! This is going to be awesome!"
"Wait, you take April's controller Mikey, you have the smallest hands and I want to play too." Leonardo argued as he reached for the controller in Michelangelo's hand.
"No way dude! It's a two player game and I'm fighting Raph!"
Raphael chuckled as he scrolled through the characters, "Don't worry Leo, whipping Mikey's butt never takes very long."
Donatello and April only looked at each other as the other three argued over who got to play first. They smiled at each other, a secret understanding passed through their eyes as they sat on the couch to watch their brothers fight over who was going to beat whom. They moved closer to each other and gently laced a few fingers together while the sound of a gong started up the game.