Springtime for Donatello

Hello fellow TMNT fans! Well, I wish I could say that this fanfic had been a long time coming, but in truth, the idea came to me a little under a month ago. The reason for this fanfic coming into being is kind of a combination of a lot of little things, but the basics of it come down to the same person I'm dedicating it to - my girlfriend. Usually on Valentine's Day, I try to make an AMV of some sort or another and dedicate it to her, but this year, the ideas for a video just weren't flowing. I was also having trouble finding the clips I wanted, as I was already set on doing something about Donatello and April. A big part of our get-togethers lately have been watching the latest TMNT episodes as they come out, and Donnie and April had quickly become one of our favorite pairings, so it just seemed natural.

When the video idea just wasn't working out, I didn't know what to do instead of that, until inspiration struck me. My aspirations at the moment are to eventually be a published author, so why not do my project to dedicate to her in that medium? And so, this fanfic began...kinda. I'll get more into that at the end of the chapter though. Please enjoy the story, and let me know what you think.

Chapter One. In Over His Head

"Well? Is he still meditating?"

"Hold on, let me check." Donatello said, as he peeked carefully around the corner of the sofa they were all hiding behind. As soon as he could see that Splinter's eyes were still closed in meditation, he pulled back. "Yeah, I think so. You sure this is really a good idea?"

"Hey, he's the one that told us to look for any opportunity to strike." Raphael said with a scowl, crossing his arms. "And the longer we wait, the more prepared he's gonna be. Let's just do this already!

"Calm down Raph. We've got to wait for the right opening, or this is never going to work." Interjected Leonardo, motioning for Raph to keep his voice down. "Or do you want a repeat of last time?"

Michelangelo snickered then, having a very vivid memory of last time. "That was funny. You screamed like a girl."

"I did not!" Raph said, turning his scowl on his younger brother.

"You so did." Mikey smirked back.

"I did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Di-"

"Quiet!" Leo said, looking at both of them as Donatello held a palm over his face and shook his head. "We're about to make our move."

Both Raph and Mikey stopped their bickering, though Mikey kept smiling while Raph scowled. As Leo peeked around the corner of the sofa himself, he could hear a light 'thwack' followed by Mikey letting out a slight yelp of pain. Sighing, he motioned with his hand behind his shell, and then they moved.

All four of them leaped out from behind the sofa, and spread out, rushing their off-guard sensei quickly and silently. Sorry sensei, but this is payback for last time. Raph thought silently with a mischievous smirk, before he jumped lightly off the ground, intending to do a spinning kick to the back of the old rat's head.

Without even opening his eyes or moving anything other than his arm, Splinter raised his hand and caught Raph's foot, causing him to halt in the air and then fall to the ground with a thud. Splinter opened his eyes and gave a look at his other three sons before turning on Raph. "You are too loud and eager, Raphael."

The other three gave a quick look at each other, their sneak attack ruined. "Okay, change of plans." Leo said, before rushing the still sitting Splinter.

"Wait, Leo, d-" Raph started to say, but it was too late. Still not standing, Splinter lifted Raph back up by his leg, and threw him right into the advancing Leonardo, sending them both sprawling back into a wall with a loud crash.

"...I knew he was going to do that." Grumbled Raphael as he lay there seeing stars. "Sometimes I really hate you Leo." Leo had nothing to say back but groan.

"Okay, at exactly what point did we lose control here?" Donnie said, looking to Mikey for support. He gasped, seeing that his brother was no longer there. "What th – hey!" He shouted, spotting Mikey making a mad dash for the opposite corner of the room past Splinter. "A little support would be nice!"

"No way dude, I'm out!" Mikey said, running right past Splinter – only to trip and fall face first to the floor when the rat's tail wrapped around his leg. "Oww." Came his muffled voice.

"No, now you are out." Splinter said, chuckling slightly as he stood at last, facing his last son. "So, Donatello...what will you do now?"

"I-Is wetting myself an option?" Donnie gulped, clearing his throat and pulling his staff from his back without thinking. The plan had been to go in unarmed, but since he was on his own now...not that he stood much of a chance either way.

Splinter said nothing and merely raised his cane as his own weapon. The two stared each other down for a moment, before Splinter started the fight for them. "Hajime!" The master and student rushed each other, clashing staff against staff, and it was all Donnie could do to keep from getting knocked out. As it was, he received a knock to both sides and the top of his head, before he completely misjudged where Splinter would strike next, and received a glancing fourth blow to his chin, knocking him backwards.

"You are over-thinking things again, Donatello. Do not think, do!" Splinter chided, moving his staff back for another strike.

Narrowing his eyes, Donnie did just that. Slamming the tip of his staff into the floor before him, he propelled himself upward like a pole-vaulter, and with a yell, he spun a kick towards his master's hand. To his surprise, it connected, and Splinter's cane went sliding across the floor. When Donatello landed, he looked at Splinter in surprise, as Splinter looked at him with the same level of shock.

I-I did it! I really did it! Donnie thought to himself with glee, as he was about to declare his victory -

"Hey guys. What's going on?"

A musical voice filled his head, and he turned to look at the entrance to their lair where April stood. "A-April!" He smiled, taking in the view of her breathtaking beauty. A split second later however, he saw only his master's tail, as Splinter jumped and sideswiped the nerdy turtle right in the face with it, knocking him over and sending him skidding backwards on his shell until he crashed right into the sofa, his head sliding underneath it.

"Yame." Splinter said, ending their combat.

"...Did I interrupt something?" April asked, quirking an eyebrow and looking at the scene.

"I do not think I need to say it, however...that was not your best attempt." Splinter chided as he walked before his sons, who sat before him with their legs underneath them. April was standing in a nearby corner, leaning against the wall and watching. "You were too eager to attack." He said, pointing at Raphael. "You did not adjust your strategy, you merely abandoned it." His finger switched direction to Leonardo, before then switching over to Michelangelo. "You panicked and tried to run.'

Donatello sighed, knowing his turn would be next. Great, now sensei is going to embarrass me in front of April all over again. He grimaced as his father's finger found it's way to him next.

"And you, Donatello, let outside influence distract you from what you were doing." He said disappointingly, causing Donnie to look at the floor, unable to meet his master's eyes. "However..." Splinter spoke again. "Before that, you actually managed to disarm me. You showed great skill in finally 'doing' and not 'thinking'. I was very proud of you, my son."

Donnie looked up to Splinter in shock, and then looked to his brothers who had been doing the same before turning towards him. Had he really just been praised above his brothers?

"You are dismissed." Splinter said with his usual serious tone, but a smile was on his face as he left the room, and the Turtles stood at last.

"I-I can't believe he just said that." Donnie moved very woodenly, too stunned to really take it all in.

"Well, you did do better than all of us this time." Leo praised him, patting him lightly on the shoulder as he passed by to go to the couch and turn on the TV – it was time for Space Heroes.

"No kidding, it was AWESOME!" Mikey broke in, eyes wide as he re-played what happened in his mind – self-editing out the part where he got tripped of course. "Bro, I have a brand new respect for you."

"Thanks Mikey, I – w-whoa!" Donnie almost fell down as Mikey suddenly crouched down and grabbed his foot, rubbing it gingerly. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to absorb some of the luck." Mikey answered, as he began to rub his face on Donnie's foot. He then gave his brother an extremely serious look. "This foot is like Leo's hand now. You can never wash this again."

Donatello facepalmed and sighed, and before he opened his eyes, there came a light 'thwack' again and Mikey's yelp of pain, and Donnie's foot came free. Stepping back down, he saw Raph standing there now.

"Yeah, you did okay. Next time it's gonna be me that tags sensei though." Raph said grumpily, apparently not liking that he was going to be third in line to have managed this. He gave Donnie a brief glance before he moved off however, Mikey trailing behind, and Donnie returned a smile. He could tell that his brother actually did congratulate him, he just wasn't the best at putting it into words.

"Wow, so you really did manage to tag Splinter? Good going Donnie." April said, walking over and smiling at him.

"U-Uh, yeah! It was awesome! It was just like sensei said, I just did, I didn't think! Well, I mean, I thought, but then I - " He rambled on, trying to think of the best way to tell the story and impress April.

April rolled her eyes, and patted his shoulder as she walked by. "Wait, are you leaving already? You just got here?" Donnie said dejectedly.

"Sorry, you'll have to give me the full scoop another time, I just had to drop by and charge my T-Phone." April said apologetically, bending to unplug it from the wall. "Kind of a pain to have to come down here to charge it though. Have you had any luck figuring out why it won't charge from my room?"

"I-I'm still working that out." Donnie grinned sheepishly. In truth, he had designed it that way on purpose, so that she'd have to come down to see him at least every so often. It was a simple enough fix to make.

As April started to head for the exit, Donnie ran after her to cut her off momentarily. "Hey, wait up! Um..."

"Yeah? What is it?" April asked, looking back at him, and Donnie got lost in her eyes momentarily.

"Um, well..." He cleared his throat and then scratched his cheek. "It's nothing really, but uh, are you busy tomorrow? I was thinking maybe we could hang out." He'd been working up the courage all week to finally ask April to hang out with just him specifically. Now he just had to hope it worked -

"Tomorrow? Sorry, I've got a lot of homework I have to finish, I'll be working all night tonight and tomorrow night on it."

- Instead of crashing and burning. It was just his luck. "Oh, I-I see." He sagged a little, then as she started to leave again, he desperately tried once more. "What about the day after tomorrow?"

April stopped in her tracks, just standing there for a minute before turning back to look at him. "The day...after tomorrow?"

"Y-Yeah." Donnie nodded, trying not to seem too desperate. "The day after tomorrow. Are you doing anything then?"

April stared at him, seemingly unsure of what to say for some reason. "Um...no, I'm free that day. You...want to do something then?" She asked as if he was mistaken somehow.

Donnie of course, picked up on none of this, too happy was he to cling to this chance. "Yes! I-I mean, yes. We could...I dunno, go hang out in the park, o-or something." Anything they did on the surface would have to be late at night of course, due to how inconspicuous he'd have to be, but still. "If you want to, I mean."

April kept looking at him, and he nervously smiled. His eyes grew wide then as her eyes looked away. Was...Was she blushing? "A-April?"

"Huh? Oh, um...y-yeah. We can do that. Seeya then." She said, waving goodbye to him as she made her exit at last, before he could get another word in.

"O-Okay! It's a date then! I mean, not a date, but...uh...oh, seeya!" Donnie yelled after her, his voice falling quieter as he went on, and his arm hung by his side. He stood there frozen for a moment, before he jumped up and down and pumped his fist into the air. "Yes! I did it! I got a date with April! This is the most wonderful day EVER!" The world seemed to spin around him out of pure joy.

"Wow, good going Donnie." Said Leo from the couch, and Donnie froze with a red face. He'd completely forgotten that Leo was there. "That was actually a pretty smooth move. I can't believe you actually got her to agree to meet with you that day."

"Well, she was busy tomorrow, so I just went for the next available day." Donnie said, starting to walk to the kitchen to see if there was any pizza left after Mikey and Raph ransacked the fridge.

"Wait, you mean you weren't aiming for that day to begin with?" Leo asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"No. Why would I aim for that day? I want to see her as soon as possible." Donnie stopped, looking back at his brother.

Leo sat there in silence for a moment, just staring at his brother. "You're serious aren't you. You...really don't know what that day is? It's been all over the place lately."

"What're you talking about?" Donnie sighed, putting a hand to his chin as he thought. "There's nothing special about that day. It's just another February 14th." His eyes went wide then as it clicked in his head.

"Yeah..." Leo smirked, reaching to the coffee table and grabbing one of Raph's magazines, and holding up the back of it for Donnie to see a romantic advertisement on the back, for that day. "Just another Valentine's Day."

There's chapter one, I hope it was good enough to keep you interested in finishing the other two chapters. Hopefully it's not too rushed in the writing either, I may do some updates to it later to smooth some things out.

Originally this story was just going to be one chapter, a complete 'one-shot' of a fanfic. But as I started writing, things started going on longer than I'd thought they would, and I was having so much fun writing these characters, that I ended up just having to extend the story. Once I had to do that, I thought about what was left, and realized that three chapters would be best. You'll notice a lot of references throughout this story to actual episodes, as well as some references to other versions of the series.

Advanced Author's Notes

As a fan of a lot of different authors and entertainment mediums, I always enjoy when the creators take the time to de-construct their work and show what went into various parts of it's creation, as well as listing any references someone might have missed. As such, I like to do the same myself, as a service to any readers out there.

- As I said before, the time between the original idea for this fanfic coming to me and it's actual writing was short, about a month tops. The time between the basic idea coming to me and it's writing was even shorter. All I knew originally was that I was going to write a Donatello x April story. Believe it or not, the Valentine's Day setting didn't occur to me until I was in the process of writing Chapter 1.
- I tried my best to make this story feel as much like an actual episode as possible, in tone at least. The main part of that was channeling each character's dialogue into my head and seeing if I could hear this line coming from the show's voice actor or not.
- The other part of making it feel as legitimate as possible was, I had to have a little bit of action in the story somewhere. It's NINJA Turtles, after all.
- I'm a little out of practice writing over-the-top action scenes, as my most recent original work I've been writing uses more realistic (well, kinda) combat, so hopefully it all flows well enough.
- Reference #1) For anyone that didn't catch it, Donnie's line of 'What point did we lose control here?' was pulled from Mikey's line during their fight with the Shredder at the end of the first live-action movie. And it was definitely intentional, heh.
- Something I noticed during the writing process that I never noticed before this was that Splinter, in this incarnation at least, has a very particular speaking style. Unless I just missed a moment of it, he doesn't really use any contractions in his dialogue. It's always 'you are' and 'cannot' instead of 'you're' and 'can't'. It's very reminiscent of Rock Lee's English dialogue in Naruto.
- Reference #2) Mikey's 'fondling' of Donnie's foot is a direct pull from a similar joke regarding Leo's hand in episode 13, 'I, Monster', of the Nick cartoon, hence it directly mentioning that time.
- Speaking of Donnie's tagging of Splinter, I really just wanted him to have a moment of glory that was combat related.