This is for Turtlegirls16's contest for your Dream Date. I've admired Donatello long enough that I felt it was time to write this. Keep in mind, this IS my dream date. Something original and fantastical and imaginative that only the turtle in purple could possibly do. I hope anyone who reads this can experience the magic I did when writing it.
And yes, my name is Katherine.
Word count is 4700, just barely fitting in the upper cap of the 100 to 5k words requirement set by TG. I read through it three times, so hopefully it is now free of errors and enjoyable to read. :D Enjoy!
"With all the force of a RAGING FIRE, mysterious as the dark side of…" Katherine turned to Mikey as they shouted "THE MOON!" together before they struck epic poses with the most intense expressions they could muster without cracking up on the spot. That happened when Raphael yelled "SHUT UP!" from the second floor.
"Duuude, that was awesome! My brothers never duet with me," Mikey tutted, shaking his head.
"Maybe it's because you're so off-key," Katherine suggested, a playful quirk to her brow.
"Look who's talking! At least I could project," Mikey huffed, turning his head away.
"In a falsetto."
"…Alright, we both sucked." Mikey grinned.
"More like were both AWESOME!" Katherine made pseudo gangsta hand signals that had Mikey in hysterics at her lack of ferocity, while she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. It was at this moment Donatello entered the scene.
"Hey, is Katie in here?" he questioned with an excited I-just-scienced glint in his eye.
"Right here. What's up, Don?" Katherine smiled the smile she had reserved just for him. Mikey didn't miss it either, as he looked between the two and heaved a sigh.
"I've just finished restoring and adding the finishing touches to… drum roll please, Mike." Mikey obliged as Don led them over to a tarp-covered object next to the pool. Don paused with a smug look before ripping off the cover and shedding light on a large submarine-type vehicle that looked big enough to hold a few people. "The Shell Sub 2!"
"Wooow," Mikey and Katherine breathed in unison. The site was simply breathtaking. The metal was polished and glossy, the wings defined and proud, the body, of course, was green, and Donatello's signature purple rimmed and accented the whole thing. It seemed that as Donatello's mind and inventions grew and matured, as did his aesthetic eye, for it was far more pleasing than his older inventions, which focused more on function than being visually agreeable.
"Mhmm." Don nodded before launching into a full detail explanation of his invention, Mikey and Katherine nodding politely. Some time after he'd begun pacing in his enthusiasm, he abruptly turned with one finger in the air and said, "So, I think a maiden voyage is in order."
Katherine grinned in excitement but Mikey just rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Uhh… yeah, really wish I could, Donnie. But I have to go to the place with the people and do… things…" he said as he backed away.
"With the stuff?" Katherine asked.
"Uh yeah!" Mikey smiled triumphantly, pointing at her and touching his nose with his other hand before high-tailing it out of the room. Katherine simply laughed while Don turned his head away to hide his somewhat flushed cheeks. Soon it was just the two of them alone, in awkward silence until Donnie cleared his throat and spoke up.
"In that case, it's just you and me?" he questioned, the hope in his eyes almost too evident.
"I'm in." Katherine didn't know exactly where they would be going, or if the pool was anything deeper than 12 feet, but she did know that, as a rule, Donatello's inventions were always cool. Even if they blew up.
Especially if they blew up, Katherine thought, smirking. She wasn't crazy or destructive or sadistic, but who could blame her for liking explosions? And violent video games, and zombies, and paintballing, and other borderline-dangerous things. Besides, Donnie liked explosions a lot more than she did, so she didn't worry too much about it. The only one who didn't like them was Raphael after one experiment-gone-wrong destroyed half of his room and burnt the hammock he so loved. Even Leo had to admit they were pretty cool, after blowing up the Foot Headquarters.
"Then, your chariot awaits, Miss Katherine." Don made a big show of bowing and helping her into the sub. He slipped his arms around her waist to help buckle her in for 'safety purposes'. If she hadn't been trying so hard to conceal her blush, she might have noticed the blatant one on Donatello's face. She breathed an inaudible sigh of relief when she was finally tethered and Don grinned as he flipped the 'ON' switch and startled Katherine out of her wits. "Initiating launch sequence!"
Katherine chuckled as her techy friend went through the motions as he said what he was doing. Donatello, noticing this, made sure to do as many unnecessary tricks as possible, planning to make use of every single gadget he'd installed.
"So where are we going- ooh a tunnel! I didn't know this was down here!" Katherine grew excited and stared out the windows in awe.
"If you like the tunnel, you're going to love this!" Don smirked as he accelerated and they traveled through the tunnel faster and faster until an end was in sight.
"Uh… Donnie?"
"Hmm?" The Shell Sub continued to increase in speed even as they neared what appeared to be a thick and completely solid wall.
"Don, if you keep going, we're going to crash!" Katherine's eyes grew wide as she turned to the turtle at her left, incredulous at his lack of concern and even... eagerness?
"Looks like it." Donnie secretly pushed a red button on the side of the control panel, which would open the river-access hatch for them.
"Did you grow suicidal overnight? Stop the sub! Do you enjoy the prospect of dying?" Katherine was sitting forward, looking for some sort of emergency brake.
"Yes, immensely." Don reclined a bit in his seat, fully enjoying the moment. He even began to hum a little tune that he'd heard on Mikey's radio.
"DONNIE!" Katherine screeched, right as the hatch opened up- with perfect timing, and the submarine shot out into the depths of a much larger passage of water. She simply blinked a few times before she settled back into her seat.
"Katie, welcome to the Hudson River! From our perspective," he added. He and his brothers saw everything from below.
"You're lucky I can't stay mad at you," Katherine grinned at last, over her panic episode from before and now fully taking in the scene before her. There was so much water that seemed to stretch on endlessly all around! It made her feel so small... more so than walking around on the streets of New York did. They glided smoothly through the encompassing blue, the submarine effortlessly slicing through the denser fluid, proof of the genius' design and the fruits of his labor.
"You can't stay mad at anyone." Don had the sub delve deeper into the depths of the unseen river, where they began to have a clearer view of the floor, and all the detritus that lied upon it. "And to be fair, you never asked if there was an entryway at the end of the tunnel," he said playfully. When Katherine didn't respond, he glanced over and saw her withdrawn expression as she her eyes swept over the debris that so many people had carelessly dumped. There were literally endless tons and heaps of castaway trash.
Don sat in silence with her for a few minutes, knowing how much of an impact it had on him the first time he witnessed the harsh reality the city above and their respect for the environment. Eventually, she seemed to snap back to the present and spoke up.
"There used to be a lot more fish, didn't there?"
"Well… yeah. A lot of these areas are unsustainable now." He grimaced as his words made Katherine frown, but he wouldn't keep the truth from her. He could never be dishonest with anyone, even if he was well aware of the affect his answer would have. People always say honesty is a good trait. Integrity is honorable. But Don didn't feel that way sometimes. Sometimes he wanted to protect people from the bitter reality. Sometimes he hated being the turtle with all the answers. "But it's getting better."
When Katherine turned and looked at him, he continued. "People have started to notice. Environmentalists, Eco groups, fishermen, even citizens enjoying the river. They've launched a project to restore the lost species and purge the waters. Not to mention free-dumping has become one hundred percent restricted, and many new nature-friendly laws and regulations have been set to protect what hasn't been destroyed." Don offered a soft smile and Katherine smiled back before turning away.
She sighed internally, thankful that Donatello had assumed she was distraught over the destruction her race had caused. In actuality, she had been imagining coming over after school, finding Don in his lab wearing a lab coat and goggles, him getting up happy to see her before approaching her and pressing her against the metal door… she bit her lip. But she knew it was unlikely the turtle had any feelings for her, and she knew she probably shouldn't have any feelings for him, because she would just end up getting hurt in the long run.
It hurt more that Mikey was always getting her hopes up that Donnie would make a move that he never did. She had let it slip several months prior that she might possibly have been crushing on his brother a little bit, and he had grinned a huge smile, sworn himself to secrecy, and spent every day since trying to 'hook her up.' In fact, she was sure that was the reason Mikey had passed up on the offer to travel in the Shell Sub 2 with them. To give her a chance to muster her courage and confess. And she almost thought that she could, until she turned to her left and jerked her head back painfully as soon as the turtle in question made eye contact. No. In the end, it would end up like every other day she had vowed to do it, and she would go home no closer than she had ever been. With this she slumped into her seat.
Don was growing worried. He knew that the sheer amount of garbage and sludge coating the earth was a lot to take in, but he hadn't expected it to dishearten her this much. He was beginning to wonder if talking Mikey into helping him get Katherine alone was a good idea after all. Desperate for a change of atmosphere, Don decided to appeal to Katherine's intellectual side by bringing her to the ship graveyard he and Mikey had discovered.
He knew he had succeeded when her mouth dropped open and she clambered closer to the thick glass windshield to get a better view of the wreckage. Everything from simple fishing boats to cargo ships to whalers… even a World War II Battleship had meandered its way into this river with the rest of them.
"Oh… my… gosh! Is that the S. S. Putney?" Katherine squeaked, pointing excitedly to a ship she actually knew the history behind.
"Indeed it is." Don resisted the urge to fist pump and settled for a mental pat on the shell as he pulled the submarine closer. "Want to get a better look?"
The expression Katherine gave him was all he needed for affirmation before he sped straight into the center of the demolition. They circled the whaler a few times, studying and pointing out everything they could see that had survived the waters and the test of time. Katherine had plenty of questions about what the use of 'this' was and what the heck 'that thing' was, and Donnie was happy to share his infinite knowledge on the subject.
Don activated some specialty high beam headlights for when they went inside one of the ships- an older, large passenger ship. They carefully settled the sub onto the floorboards (ceiling boards, technically) and brought it into a full resting position as they sat back and beheld the true spectacle before them.
"Do you realize just how much history you can see down here? Some of these ships date back to the Revolutionary War." Don told her zealously, with the gleam in his eye that always appeared when he'd managed to spark someone's interest.
Katherine nodded just as enthusiastically. "It's like a timeline!"
"Exactly!" They turned back to the ship and continued to absorb in an awestruck manner.
"Donnie?"
"Mm?"
"This is officially the coolest thing I have ever done." Katherine knew that even if she could never be with Don the way she wanted, she could settle for being his friend and was more than happy with that. How many girls had gotten to visit a shipwreck in a hand built submarine? She didn't know the answer for sure, but she had a pretty good guess.
"It's about to get even cooler." She was startled to find Donatello behind her chair now. When had he taken off his seat restraints? He had in his hand a mysterious bulging duffle bag. She raised a brow in question and Don quickly unfastened it to reveal… an oxygen tank? Katherine gasped.
"We're going scuba diving?" Her eyes were nearly the size of saucers as Don pulled out a second, a wetsuit, two helmets, and two sets of fins.
"Only if you want to," he replied, somewhat shyly and unsurely. Katherine was glad to have the belt still securely around her midriff or she was sure she would have launched herself at him right then and there.
"What do you think?" she squealed as her shaky, too-excited fingers scrambled at her lock and tried to get it undone. After about thirty seconds of watching her fail, Don laughed.
"Here, let me get it." He slid his arms around her seat, much like earlier, as he easily unfastened the strap. "There. Be free!" He laughed again.
"It's not like I'm the one who made them, Donatello," she reminded before she grabbed the wetsuit he offered to her. "Where's yours?"
"Don't need one," he said smugly. Katherine rolled her eyes good-naturedly. All four of the brothers were proud to call themselves turtles, and more than happy to flaunt their innate advantages. For that reason she made it a habit to point out as often as she could how useful it was to have five nimble fingers as opposed to three thicker, stubby ones. It backfired, however, as she often found herself having to reach into small places or unscrew tight things or somehow handle tools created with a five-fingered human in mind when over visiting the lair. She shook her head.
"Well I do, so uh… turn around?" Immediately Donatello's face was aflame and he spun around as quickly as he could. She changed in a similarly hasty fashion, wanting the awkwardness to be over as soon as possible, but still trying to be careful so she didn't get tangled up in the tight elastic and end up having to ask for assistance.
However, the dexterity with which Don looked away had her thinking back to something Mikey had said to her a few weeks before. "Look, dudette. He's more buddy-buddy with you than he is with any other human we've ever met. So either he's totally into you, or he's gay." This comment had Katherine rolling on the floor laughing with tears in her eyes then, before bringing about an extremely awkward explanation when Raphael walked into the room. But now, just the thought of Donatello being… she choked and jerked her zipper a bit too hard in the back, essentially and effectively jamming it in place only halfway up the length to her neck.
"Um… Don?" she asked, in a pointlessly small voice. Donatello, whose blush hadn't deteriorated one bit, stood stoutly in the same position. He hadn't turned around once, but that didn't mean there wasn't an extremely reflective metal sheet lining the wall in toward his front.
"Y-yeah?" He kicked himself for stuttering and letting his voice sound that shaky. Subtly clearing his throat, he spoke again, clearer this time. "Do you have it on?"
"Uhh… mostly. The zipper's stuck in the back. Do you think you could get it?" Katherine bit her lip. This had to be the most embarrassing situation she had ever been in. Sure, she'd had accursed zippers lodged in place before at home and in store dressing rooms and such, and she'd needed help to force them up or down. But never before had she needed to ask a guy for help. And never before had that guy been the guy she'd been pathetically fawning over for months on end.
"Oh. O-Of course." Aaand the stutter was back. Don inhaled deeply through his nostrils, mentally preparing himself and trying to focus like Master Splinter had taught him. He really could use some of Leo's fearlessness right about now. But he thanked whatever gods were out there that Mikey and Raph would never know about this, or the jokes would never end. Especially considering Mikey was well aware that he thought of Katherine as more then a friend, and he was positive Raphael had a pretty good idea as well.
Turning around, Don froze for a few seconds at the sight of exposed, bare flesh. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but at the same time he felt paralyzed and it took Katherine's nervous shuffle and ducking of her head to shake him out of his trance. He reached for the zipper with a wobbly arm and rubber fingers, gripping it carefully at the end to try to avoid contact with her skin. Unfortunately, he ended up having to grip the whole thing with both hands in order to get the leverage he needed. "How'd you manage this?" he grunted as he worked to first loosen it, and then finally succeeding with an "ah!" and closing up Katherine's suit the rest of the way. His fingers managed to brush her neck as he finished, and they both tried and failed to repress a shiver.
"Skills?" she offered.
Don helped her get her helmet and tank hooked up, testing them thoroughly before giving her some basic instruction and reminding her to stay close at all costs, which she readily complied to. The whole time, he was trying hard not to focus on the wetsuit, which stretched over her body like a second skin, emphasizing all of her gentle curves and flattering her figure.
When they finally opened a hatch in the bottom of the sub, Don went first and waited for Katherine to follow before carefully closing it up behind them. Since they couldn't speak, he gestured for her to follow him and held out his hand, which she quickly took.
Don touched the top of his helmet and immediately a bright LED light flashed on and shot out in front of them, lighting up the spooky ruins. Katherine shook her head at what was obviously a customization before doing the same with her own. Together the two of them swam to a broken door and squeezed into a hallway. And not for the first time, Katherine was impressed with the sheer amount of strength Donnie possessed but rarely exhibited. He was pulling her along like she was nothing, and they moved easily through the water.
As they swam, they studied everything around them, refusing to miss a single detail. There were old portraits, residual but long-since indeterminable wallpaper, old-fashioned chandeliers that grew less rusty the further in they ventured, and a surprising amount of marble that seemed as lustrous and polished as ever, if not a little green from being underwater for so long. They looked into every room they passed that wasn't completely closed off, most of which appeared to be the passengers' lodgings. First class, by the size and décor. They were both shocked but fascinated by the sight of a mostly decomposed, but still easily definable skeleton. They remained for a few minutes just to study the corpse and share looks before they moved on. They reached a larger hallway that was even more extravagant than they last. It appeared that all the boarding regions met up to this point and led together to the common rooms.
As they reached the end of the embellished corridor, they found a large two-door double entrance with intricate carvings still in place and beautiful gold handles. The door was slightly ajar, so they knew they wouldn't have to worry about any differences in water pressure as they looked at each other and then worked together to push the right door open.
At first it wouldn't budge at all, seeing as the hinges hadn't been used in what was easily a century and were crusted over, while the door was completely rooted to that spot and content to rot away ajar. Eventually, though, they made leeway, and then the door swung open and they nearly burst into the room. They gasped inaudibly, letting out twin streams of bubbles at the sight.
It was a ballroom; fancier and surprisingly more intact than anything they had seen so far. The wall decoration was still there, some of it askew, but making the room every bit as marvelous as it must have been when it was in use. The walls were a warm pinkish color, and the floor (which was the ceiling to them) was a sleek dark wood that had hardly been tarnished by age. Don was itching to explain how the lack of water circulation had more preserved this room than anything else, but instead he took Katherine's hand again and they ventured into the room together, admiring something they'd never be able to see together in current times because of Donatello's appearance and Katherine's not being a billionaire. But the ballroom was possibly the most breathtaking thing Katherine had laid eyes on, next to Donatello, and she couldn't help but feel like the luckiest girl in the world for being able to experience both at the same time.
Donatello turned to her suddenly, a playful flicker to his expression before he bowed to her and offered her his hand. The surprised look she gave him alone was more than enough to make it completely worth it. Katherine grinned and placed her hand in his, and he wrapped his other around her waist and spun them around the inverted ballroom. Katherine was all smiles as they danced together in perfect unison while Don only wished he could hear her melodious laughter. Even so, there was something magical about the still silence of it all, as if they were frozen in the past. Katherine prayed that it would last forever. What she didn't know was the Donatello was thinking the exact same thing.
When they returned at last to the Shell Sub 2, they were both physically drained from their swim, and more than happy to relax back into the comfortable seats and let the sub handle all the movement.
"That was…" Katherine looked over at Don, and she could see that it had been as amazing for him as it had been for her.
"Magical," Don finished. She smiled at him before turning back to enjoy the scenery as they headed up and out. But rather than heading back toward the tunnel, they continued to head upward. Katherine was surprised, but had learned to trust Donatello, and eventually they broke surface.
"It's nighttime?" Katherine asked, staring up into the dark night sky. The stars, of course, weren't visible here. New York City was just a mile away. But the wide-open expanse was still somewhat freeing and uplifting after being underwater for so long.
"It's 9:54," Don confirmed, checking his watch. Katherine hummed, completely relaxed in her seat until she noticed that Donatello, once again, wasn't in his.
"Don?"
"Right here. You hungry?" she could hear the smile in his voice, as he already knew the answer to that. If she wasn't before, she definitely was now. And now that Don had brought her attention to her stomach, it was becoming unbearable.
"Yes!" Katherine turned in her seat and tried to grab the bag in Donnie's hand but he pulled it out of her reach.
"Not just yet," he teased.
"But… foooood," she whined, shooting him a glare, which only intensified when he brushed it off with an amused look. He helped her out of her seat, which had her puzzled, until he hit a switch and opened the access on the roof of the sub that they had climbed through initially. He helped her up the ladder before climbing after her to sit atop the submarine in the center of the river in the dead of night.
It was windy and Katherine was freezing on account of being still wet from their earlier escapades, but Don suddenly wrapped a thick blanket around the two of them and they huddled together watching the ever-drifting water, the twinkling lights of the city in the distance, and the harbor beyond that. Don pulled out two thermoses, which Katherine was delighted to find were filled with a steaming noodle soup and a heavenly aroma.
"Mikey made this," Donnie mentioned, pouring some into his cup and slurping it carefully. Katherine took a small sip and about died.
"Oh my God it's so good," she sobbed happily, smiling triumphantly when she felt Don's shoulders shake in laughter.
"Best cook I've ever met," Don agreed, enjoying his own soup once more. They sat in comfortable cozy silence, both of their heart rates slightly above normal from their intimate propinquity. One thing was for sure. Katherine wasn't cold anymore.
"Don?" Katherine said, as a sudden thought came to mind.
"Mhmm?" he hummed as he drank.
"You knew Mikey wasn't going to come." Don choked, coughing a bit before he turned to her whilst trying not to give anything away.
"W-what do you mean?" He could have slapped himself.
"Mikey made fresh soup for this trip, so he already knew about it. Which means you talked to him about it already. Not to mention, you brought two helmets, two oxygen tanks, one wetsuit, and two thermoses..."
Don's mouth felt dry. This was it. He knew she was smart, of course she'd figure out that he'd planned it all to be this way. That she'd jump to the obvious conclusions. And yet, even with the pep talk Mikey had given him a million and a half times, he felt nowhere near ready to face his feelings for this amazing girl that he was so very smitten with. Alas, he could do nothing but stare as he waited for her to spell it out to him. That they couldn't be together… that way. That she couldn't love a mutant. That they'd never be anything more than friends- if that. That she couldn't bear to-
"Is this a date?" Katherine asked him finally, in a small voice that puzzled him and broke him out of his thoughts. He was expecting a fiery rejection, or even a "you're a great guy" speech. He mulled over the question in his head for a moment before he finally responded in an equally soft voice.
"Is that okay?"
Katherine couldn't help it. The way those dark intelligent eyes that she loved so much were analyzing her movements, so unsurely, but so passionately… Lips, currently tight with insecurities and possessing the slightest tremble, that she'd had to admire from a distance for far too long. Actions speak louder than words. And that was her last thought before she leaned forward and kissed his breath away.
Finally. Finally.