It was a few weeks after that embarrassing incident that Donnie found the poster.
They were out on night maneuvers, patrolling the lower east side. He and Mikey were paired up as usual, while Leo and Raph split off towards west.
It was a bland night for the most part. They only thwarted three muggings instead of the usual six. Mikey had gotten a little over zealous when they caught a guy mid robbery at a small mom-and-pop store uptown, which resulted in Donnie having to bandage the unconscious guy's head before they took off. After that, the duo decided to head back to the Raulix building where they always met their brothers if it hadn't been a real busy night.
On the way there, Mikey managed to drop one of his nunchucks in an alleyway that they had jumped.
Donnie had rolled his eyes and headed down to get it as he was closer. Slick as a cat and quiet as a mouse, he lept down the fire escape and landed neatly on the ground below. He grabbed the weapon with a put upon sigh and was about to start back up, when a brightly colored piece of paper on the ground caught his eye.
It was torn and filthy, but he could still read the words:
City wide dance competition and party, Lerkman hall, October 31
An overly bright orange jack lantern smiled up from the poster with jagged teeth, while silhouetted monsters danced in the background.
Initially ignoring it, Donnie climbed the fire escape and handed Mikey back his nunchucks.
"Be more careful," Donnie said, giving it back to his brother.
"Thanks, man," Mikey said when he took it.
"You're just luck no one was down there, or you'd have to go home and explain how you lost another one," Donnie said as they continued on.
Mikey shrugged.
"I'd just say that it got stuck in some dude's noggin when I smacked him and I had to leave it behind."
"That's the excuse you used last time," Donnie said as he vaulted to another rooftop.
They continued on in quiet – well, Donnie was quiet, but Mikey blabbed on like they were completely alone in the city.
Donnie couldn't get the image of the ratty poster out of his mind's eye. It wasn't until after they met back up with the others and made it back to the lair that it hit him.
They walked in to see April still up, working on her laptop. She sat on the couch with her dainty little feet tucked up under her, an image that made Donnie inadvertently smile.
"Hey, guys," she said with a happy but sleepy grin. She looked so fetching like that.
"What are you still doing up?" Leo asked as they headed to the weapons wall to hang up their stuff.
"I always wait up for you guys to come home when you go topside," April said as she shut her laptop and stretched her arms over her head, giving a giant yawn.
"Aw... that's sweet, Ma," Raph said as he walked past where she sat, ruffling her hair on the way. April slapped his hand but smiled all the same.
"He wouldn't admit it, but Master Splinter does too," April said as she got up and stretched again. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if he fell asleep by now. You guys know it's almost 2 a.m., right?"
"Ninja's ain't never late, Froda," Mikey said, getting a soda from the fridge. "They get there when they get there."
Donnie rolled his eyes.
"That was such a grossly inferior attempt at a quotation, Mikey," Donnie said.
Mikey tipped his head in amusement.
"You would know, ya big nerd."
"Hey," April said, coming to his rescue. "Lord of the Rings is not nerdy. It's a classic."
"Precisely. Thank you, milady," Donnie said with a gracious smile.
He was rewarded with a tired giggle from April.
"Whenever you require assistance, my good gentleman, thou only needith call my name," April said with a little curtsy.
Donnie responded by taking her hand in a gesture of courtliness.
Mikey and Raph looked at each other.
"Nerds," the chorused.
Leo just chuckled at their antics.
"Alright guys, time for bed. Sensei will want us up early for morning routine," the team leader said.
"I'm just going to check on a few things in the lab first," Donnie said as he headed in that direction.
His brother's just rolled their eyes or shook their heads, knowing that he would probably pull another all-nighter.
"Don't stay up too late, good gentleman," Mikey said in a mocking tone.
Donnie ignored him, but April gave Mikey a playful shove.
"Your just jealous," she teased the young turtle. "You just wish you could keep up with Donatello's chivalry."
Donnie blushed and pretended not to hear.
"Nuh-uh," Mikey said as he shoved April gently. Or his version of gentle. "I can be plenty full of chivalriness when I wanna."
With that, he bowed at the waist and offered her his hand. Donnie paused to watch as she took his hand. With a surprised laugh, April was twirled around and spun in all directions.
Donnie watched at April kept her feet even among Mikey's clumsy looking steps, all of the turtle's ninja skills going out the window. It made April look even more graceful and lithe.
"Alright Fred and Ginger," Leo said shooing them off to bed (Donnie was impressed that Leo knew that reference, the blue clad turtle wasn't a huge fan of most aspects of human culture). "Splinter will have our tails if he finds out were stayed up all night. Don, make sure you turn in soon," Leo ordered.
"Yes, Sensei," Donnie said under his breath as he closed the lab door behind him. He didn't waste too much energy on a comeback, because his mind was on something else.
Thinking about April twirling about in the living room with Mikey… It gave him an idea.
Booting up his computer, Donnie started tapping away at the keys, looking for details about a specific event that was coming up.
The light of the computer reflected in Donnie's glasses as he scrolled though information on a website. When he got to one fact in particular, his eyes lit up with a light of their own. A plan started to formulate in his head, and his mouth started to smile on its own accord.
If he could pull this off, it could be his big chance at impressing April.
All he needed to do was find the right videos and find some time to practice…
The first part ended up being the easiest piece of his master plan. The second wasn't extremely problematic, but not getting caught certainly felt like the most difficult thing he had ever attempted.
One moment he would be completely alone, watching his videos and following their instructions, and the next he would be scrambling to cover the screen when one of his brothers would come barging into his room or the lab without knocking as they always did. It was bound to give him a conniption one of these days.
He only had a limited amount of time though, and he had to practice when he could. Between training, patrols, and repairing necessary items around the lair as his brothers continuously and habitually broke them, it left him hard pressed to find time to do so.
On one occasion, Donnie had been attempting a frustratingly difficult piece when Mikey had walked into the lab, already talking.
"Hey Donnie, where is the-"
He was interrupted by the crash of Donatello falling to the floor, an instinctual movement to conceal his posture and movements.
"Um, you ok, dude?" Mikey asked as Donnie picked himself up and slyly clicked his computer off.
"I-ah, yeah. I just, ahem, just tripped on the-a… thing. On the floor there."
Mikey glanced at the floor of the lab, which Donnie was obsessed with keeping spotless and clutter free.
"Riiiiight… Well, I was wondering where the toaster was?" Mikey asked, going back to his original inquiry.
Donatello straightened himself up.
"Oh, yes. The toaster. I haven't gotten to fixing that yet." Donnie said hurriedly.
Mikey frowned at him.
"It's been like a week, dude," he complained.
Donnie scowled, trying to cover up his uneasiness at almost being discovered. He shuffled some papers to make himself look occupied with other things.
"Yes, well, I've been busy. I'll have it ready as soon as I can. I promise."
He didn't keep that promise. In fact he started to fall through on a lot of promises.
Master Splinter told him he needed to work on his rolls, which he promised to do.
He didn't because he was practicing.
Leo told him he needed to start getting more sleep because it was affecting his performance in the training room and his patrolling. Donatello swore every night that he would.
He kept pulling all-nighters whenever he could.
Raphael told him he needed help working on the Shell Raiser because it was acting up again. Donnie kept telling him that he would help him the next day.
That happened for weeks in a row.
Mikey asked him to fix any number of things around the lair, which Donnie vowed he would get to just as soon as he was done with this one thing.
The stack of broken junk on his desk kept growing, and growing.
The only promises he didn't break were to April.
When she needed help with her online classes, Donatello would always make it to the appointed time to aid her. When she wanted to spar so she could work on her lunges and kicks, Donnie would drop everything and accompany her to the dojo.
It was kind of pathetic really.
And the family was starting to notice.
Eventually, the brothers had had enough.
Always being the hotheaded one, Raph was the first to decide that Donnie needed his butt kicked into motion.
One day after training, Raph went to find Donatello in the lab where he spent every moment of his free time now.
The red clad turtle cracked his knuckles before opening the door.
What he found, he was not prepared for.
Donnie had his back to him, and was in the weirdest damn position that Raph had ever seen.
He held his hands in a very precise manor. His back was straight as a log, like someone had jammed a metal pole up his butt.
And then he started to… dance?
Raphael had to blink.
He could not believe what he was seeing.
He stood there in the doorway staring as his brother waltzed around the lab like an uptight, pantywaist human. There was the very quiet hum of music coming from his computer speakers.
Raph had always known that Donatello was a drip, but this was a whole new level.
He couldn't close his gaping mouth as Donnie finally spun around and caught sight of his brother standing in the threshold, watching him.
Donnie froze in mid turn, the color draining from his face and his eyes dilating in pure unadulterated horror.
The music came to big finally and left the two brothers in silence.
"Dude," was all Raph managed to say before Donatello exploded into a manic ball of green fury.
