Hey guys! As promised, here is Chapter 2 of GP2 for you all!

Have a little bit of angst and fluffiness on me! :D :D

Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT in any way shape or form :)

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"Hey Sleepin' Beauty!" a calloused, blunt finger was jabbed into the back of his scarred but still tender neck.

GP winced and yelped when the action was repeated. "Ouch! Will you quit it!" he snapped as he leant forward, out of reach of Raphael's jabbing digit.

"I said move your shell genius!" Only Raphael could take the word 'genius' and turn it into an insult.

"Back off Raphael, I couldn't sleep last night, okay?" the moment he said it he wished he hadn't. It was all the fodder his distrustful brother needed.

"Awww, did 'Daddy's Boy' get turned away from sleeping in his room again?"

GP had had enough of this. He clambered out of the pit and unwisely shoved past the hot headed mutant. "I said back off!" It had taken months for GP to learn to talk back and stand up for himself against Raphael. If anything though, the taunts had gotten worse. He'd tried ignoring them but that didn't seem to work either.

Despite everyone else's good intentions, GP was still finding it increasingly difficult to fit in and adapt. Learning that he was smarter than his brothers and April was probably one of the biggest shocks to him, as he had always been told by Stockman that his intellect was 'average' at best. He tried to watch how he spoke but big words still tumbled out, leaving countless times when everyone was just left staring at him and trying to figure out what the heck he had just said.

'Dumbing' things down didn't come naturally to him.

"Where's Michelangelo?" GP tried to change the subject.

"How the heck should I know?"

"There's a shock," GP muttered a little too loudly.

"What did you say?"

GP instantly clamped a hand over his mouth. He had no idea he could be this sarcastic.

"What did you say wise guy?" Raphael demanded again.

"Nothing!"

GP received a strong shove from behind, sending him staggering forwards. He slipped on a discarded pizza box from the previous night and put his gloved hands out before he face planted into the ground.

"Donnie! Bro, you okay?"

A flash of embarrassment tinted his cheeks as he scrambled to his feet unnecessarily brushing himself down. He was still unused to being called by the nickname that Michelangelo had adopted for him. Half the time he didn't realise it was him the others were calling.

"I'm fine! I- er, just tripped."

Raphael shouldered past him. "Coward," he said as he passed, clipping Michelangelo upside the head for good measure.

"Dude! That's getting real old bro!" Michelangelo retorted.

GP was still focussed on Raphael's back when Michelangelo shook his shoulder. "Hey! You listening dude?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yes. I'm listening."

"I said are you excited?"

Obviously he'd missed something Michelangelo had said. "Excited about what?"

"You get to choose your weapon today bro!"

"Oh!" he'd completely forgotten.

"How could you forget about something like that dude? It's the only thing I could think about before I chose mine!" he exclaimed.

Well, I've had quite a lot on my mind recently, GP thought but he didn't speak it out loud. "Must have been distracted," GP managed a weak smile.

Michelangelo beamed back. "C'mon! I made breakfast!"

Before GP had a chance to object, he was practically dragged into the kitchen. A stumbling entrance and a less than dignified 'clump!' into the breakfast bar table was enough to flush his face with embarrassment. Had he always been this clumsy? Of course Leonardo and Raphael had to be there witness to it.

Leonardo tried not to notice, (to save face for him) but failed when he stifled a chuckle under his hand. Raphael was belligerent as usual. "Hey! Watch it you klutz!" he snapped.

"S-sorry," GP stammered, noticing his unfortunate collision had sent a glass of orange juice splashing across the counter.

'Yeah, can I start this morning over already?' GP slid onto a stool and hid half his face behind a gloved hand.

"Here you go bro!"

A plate of pancakes steeped in butter and maple syrup was slid in front of him. Yeah, that was another thing before he came here he had never tasted such rich food as Michelangelo prepared. Heck, the first pizza he ever tasted (delicious as it was) completely repeated on him. He'd brought the whole thing up only an hour later. The rations he had been given under Stockman's guardianship had been on the whole bland and quite tasteless but that was how he thought all food tasted. He hadn't known any different.

Staring at the sumptuous first meal of the day GP immediately felt a wave of heartburn flare up. Even now he had to be careful. He guessed he could probably handle a couple of pancakes. He really needed to have a word with Michelangelo and tell him he didn't need to be so generous with his servings. Although it would probably land on deaf ears. He noted that Michelangelo could have a rather short attention span.

GP still couldn't quite believe it, that the other mutant turtles sat at the counter about him were his brothers. He knew they were but the disbelief even after all those months was still strong. He should have felt like the luckiest teen in the world but there was still something missing, something that understandably concerned him. He felt no familial bond with any them. Maybe it was because he had been raised in comparative isolation for most of his life. Maybe he was too used to his own company. Maybe the concept of having a 'sibling' was just too much for his mind to register and accept.

GP sighed and lifted his fork glancing briefly across at Michelangelo that hungrily devoured his pancake stack with the gusto of a starving man. His brow furrowed and he felt an uncomfortable pang in his breast. He looked back down at his breakfast. Even with Michelangelo who had made him feel the most welcome he had come to regard as only a real good friend. It was if his brain refused to see him as anything more than that and it saddened GP to the centre of his soul. He had never known anyone could be so accepting, so open, so gregarious, so, loving to someone they barely knew. He felt an unexpected lump start to form in the back of his throat.

"Hey dork! What ya waitin' for? For the pancakes to levitate into your mouth?"

A deep frown crashed down upon GP's face and his fork dropped to his plate with a hollow clatter making everyone look up at him. He wasn't in the mood for Raphael's sarcasm this morning. He pushed away from the table.

"Sorry Michelangelo, I've suddenly lost my appetite."

With that he stalked out of the kitchen, not waiting for a response from the others.

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Mikey wasn't clear on what exactly had happened, he hadn't really been listening when Raph spoke but a split second later Donnie had dropped his fork and left. What was wrong? He thought his immediate older brother liked pancakes. It was only after Leo spoke that he realised what must have happened.

"You should stop doing things like that Raphael."

"What things?" his hotheaded brother retorted.

"Insulting Donatello for a start."

"Oh, do not start gettin' preachy with me Leo. He is a dork, a nerd, a- brainiac."

"And how is that a bad thing?" Leo snapped.

"We're ninjas Leo! Why do we even need a computer geek in our team anyway?"

Mikey watched as Leo slammed his hands flat on the counter causing every glass stood upon it to wobble. "He's our brother Raphael! Donatello is not expendable!"

Now Raph got on the offensive and Mikey wiggled uncertainly not sure how to defuse the situation. "That techno geek spent all his life living in Baxter Stockman's basement Leo! Who knows what weirdo crap he's building in that stupid cave of his! Somethin' to wipe us all out, that's what he's doing!"

"No he isn't!" Mikey suddenly found himself shouting. "He makes things to help us!"

He didn't know where that had come from but Mikey knew he had never been this angry in his entire life. Donnie was their brother and he knew instinctively that he would never do anything to hurt them.

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GP was in the centre of the main living space when the shouts filtered out of the kitchen. He couldn't make out what the argument was about but he had a fair idea. Him. It was always about him. He never thought his very presence in the place where he was supposed to belong would cause this much friction. He roughly swiped a hand across his face as his eyes unexpectedly started to water.

"Donatello my son, is there something wrong?"

GP started and spun about, Splinter's footsteps had been completely silent and he still wasn't quite sure how he did it. "Chichi!"

"I hear that your brothers are arguing again."

GP's shoulders slumped. "I just wish that they would stop," he murmured.

"They will," Splinter said gently, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I just takes time."

'It's been eight months,' GP thought wryly, the forlorn expression still present upon his face.

"My son," the hand still upon his shoulder gave him a gentle squeeze. "Why don't you go ahead to the dojo. Your brothers and I will be there shortly."

"Hai chichi," GP answered quietly.

It was only when he reached the dojo that he realised why Splinter had requested he do so. Waiting beneath the boughs of the 'Impossible' tree as GP had personally dubbed it, was April. The smile that pushed across his features was involuntary. It was really great to see her, the vibrant redhead he had come to regard as his best friend.

"Hey April, you're here early."

"School holidays," she smiled back, it was a smile that always seemed to boost him no matter how down he was feeling.

GP knelt next her. "Ah yes of course," he smiled back at her.

"So, how are things going Donatello?"

Immediately GP's demeanor fell and he looked away from her, sighing an almost world weary sigh.

April's features creased sympathetically. "That bad huh?" she consoled, reaching out for his nearest hand lain on his lap.

"You have no idea," he murmured.

"Oh Donnie I'm sorry."

Although her words were genuine something made GP's face crease in consternation.

"Donatello what is it?"

He found himself shaking his head. "Don't," he uttered quietly. "Don't call me that."

"Call you what, Donatello? But that's your name!" she said with a playful smile, trying to make light of it.

GP's shoulders just slumped further down and he stared at his hands. He could tell that the girl immediately regretted her response because her hand came out for his shoulder. He would have thought that after all this time that he would have gotten used to his real name. His true name. But he hadn't. For thirteen years he had been GP and it wasn't something one could shrug off that easily, at least GP thought so. Donatello was that two year old turtle tot that got lost in the sewers. GP was the turtle teen he became. It still felt so, foreign to him and he doubted anyone would really understand.

"It, it doesn't fit," GP said quietly. "It feels, too big," too important for someone like him.

April's brow furrowed and her hand fell to his that had he'd unwittingly curled into tight fists. "I think it fits just right," she murmured. GP began to shake his head but April wasn't finished. "I take it Donnie doesn't feel right either?" she ventured softly.

"No, it doesn't," he practically whispered.

April finally smiled again and gently drew a finger under his chin to guide his forlorn gaze up to hers. His heart fluttered slightly. "Then how about this, how does, 'D' sound?"

GP drew a breath and briefly stared down at the mats on the dojo's floor. Well, it certainly didn't feel as intimidating as 'Donatello'. After a pause he finally nodded in agreement. "Yes, that doesn't sound too bad at all," he said, giving the redhead a small smile.

"Good," April beamed back. Darn it, he really adored that smile of hers so much.

At that moment Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo all entered the dojo each of them looking a little chastised. It seemed that Splinter had given them all a choice few words to think about.

Normally GP would have one on one lessons with Splinter and sometimes alongside April, (lessons that he personally looked forward to immensely) since chichi had announced that he wanted to train April to become a kunoichi, a female ninja due to her innate skills in empathy. A natural ability she seemed to have. Anyway, today was a special one and it was more a demonstration so they could see how different weapons worked and which ones (if any) inspired them.

Michelangelo placed himself right next to GP. "You okay Donnie?" he asked.

Feeling better than he had been a few moments before, GP returned a small smile to the orange banded ninja. "Yes, but call me D," he whispered.

"'D'?" Michelangelo repeated looking thoughtful. "Sure brah, D, I like it!" he grinned back.

Splinter then strode into the centre of the dojo and lesson officially began.

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