When in doubt of things she usually asked Donnie for help. When those things happened to be science homework, he was the person to go to. One hundred percent.

She had already established her crush for her best friend, but hadn't really had the chance to act on it properly yet, especially as around prom time she'd nearly kissed him. If only his brothers gave him the time of day. She wouldn't have backed out if their lips had already connected. Even thinking about what it'd be like was nice, magical even. The cool texture, the emotional connection without a care in the world. As though a supernova was in the background, or something like fireworks in her brain. The taste, probably nothing really, or the slight hint of whatever he'd put in his mouth last be that pizza, hot chocolate or coffee. She wasn't too fond of coffee herself, but she associated it with Donnie and so it had grown on her. Not the taste, but that might grow on her if she frenched him enough.

Exiting her daydreams, she looked around her room. Casey was here in person "helping", even if he was just there to copy her answers. The guys were all grounded for sneaking out, so she called him up on Skype. She knew it wasn't exactly the best plan as Skype was well known for it's disruptive behaviour, but without him being able to visit it would be a shame, and she didn't want to get him in more trouble. He was the only one that had the program, actually, as his brothers either didn't own computers or didn't care all that much. But Donnie was determined to make it easy for April or Casey to contact him. He may hate the guy, but he put the safety of others first, so he allowed short and snappy conversation if it meant someone was in trouble.

Clicking the call button, she watched as the call noise came up, loud and clear unlike pretty much anything else. Casey heard and popped his head around the door while ordering pizza, mouthing "who you calling?". she just waved him off.

She had to call a second time, but eventually he picked up, and it looked like he had been sleeping. A yawn broke him off from what he was about to say, but instead said his greeting afterwards. "Hey, April. What's up?" The slight moisture in his eyes and the unusually dazed expression he wore confirmed that yes, he had just woken up. God she felt awful now.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were sleeping. I can leave you be, I just wanted to know if my best buddy in the whole world would be able to help me with my homework because I am slightly confused. But I didn't realise you'd be sleeping, so I'll-" On screen he raised both his hands and faked being totally awake. "No! I'm wide awake, fresh as a daisy. I don't mind." It was obvious he was still tired, but the fact he was always willing to help made her heart swell.

Casey chose that moment to jump on her wheelie chair and slide over to push her chair a little. "Why'd you call this nerd? The only help you need is Casey Jones."

"Bet you don't even know the quadratic formula." He was barely hear mumbling under his breath. She was just surprised the call hadn't glitched out on her as of yet. The sewers seemed to have pretty good signal, though. She was quite jealous.

Casey didn't answer and instead started doodling on his work.

April was trying her best to stay calm about this, but really she was just simmering her rage under the surface. "Let's get this over with so you can go home, and you can go back to sleep." Retorting with "I wasn't sleeping!" she just rolled her eyes with a smile. Likely story, pal.

It should have been easy, but with a wild card like Casey Jones, it was going to be a long night. Especially as he kept pulling insults out of his ass to hit Donnie with.

"You're like a rocket propelled spaz maggot springloaded up the ass of a fucking weasel on drugs."

"You blithering, feculent shithole. Really, I don't see anything different about you. All I see is a coward who hides behind a full-face mask and a pair of impudent lips pursed so tight when I punch you it'll sound like air squealing out of a balloon when I punch you in the gut."

"Wow! I think I just tugged at well wrapped present of go fuck yourself! It's for you, you ugly pile of trash."

The doorbell went. As she was apparently the only sane person, she got up and went to the door, finding the pizza delivery guy looking at her as though she had grown a second head. "My friends are at each others throats right now, could you give me a moment please?"

The guy just nodded and tried peering in, but she pushed the door to as she put the pizza down where they were squabbling. She was probably going to be the only one eating it anyway. Picking up her purse-

"-Oxygen theif!"

turned towards the door to leave-

"-Oozing vestigial third oral sphincter how could you be so stupid?"

and as she opened the door again with her purse the guy was doubled over laughing silently, clapping his hands like a walrus. "Yes one of my friends has colourful language, no he is not going to give you a sheet of insults and yes you may have a tip. Please just... ignore it." Paying the guy she shut the door, turning back to sit down and start eating while her friends fought.

"You're dumber than snake mittens, dude."

"I think we need to get back on the point here, which is addressing the fact that you're an abhorrent column of smarmy filth."

"You don't even get that I'm better than you in pretty much every possible way. You don't get that because you're incredibly stupid."

"For gods sake, you're the dumbest bucket of festering discharge that I ever fell ass backwards into. I could kill myself by climbing all the way up to your ego and jumping off until I reached your IQ."

"Isn't it dangerous to use your entire vocabulary in one sentence?"

"Look, Casey. I am a disgusting, worthless piece of shit on the gargantuan teat of a labouring, leprous horse. My self esteem is so small that even its existence is a matter of conjecture among theoretical physicists. I have received a lifetime ban from ugly contests by president shitface himself, and all because I was close to overthrowing him. My blood isn't fit to flow through a sewer, yet here I am! Everyone thinks I'm smart, but I routinely underestimate every situation I'm forced into and only figure out what to do after it's too late. So if you want to tell me I'm a piece of shit fine, but you want me to do anything for you ever again, Casey Jones, you're talking to the wrong fucking cowboy."

And with that, Donnie ended the call.

April had never actually seen him get so worked up, but having him spill such information made her feel awful. There was no trying to stop it, she had tried in the past and just got an earful, however listening to him say something like that? It was a whole other story. Turning to Casey with a frown and folded arms, she gave him an expression that would make blood curl. She learnt it from several people, and every version sent shivers up her spine. "Why exactly did you push so far?"

His expression alone showed he was a little worried about what was going down, but he masked it almost instantly. "The dude was doing the same thing, if you're going to reprimand me but not him then you've got another thing coming, Red."

"I may have, but you pushed him so far that he is no longer online for me to tell him anything!" She exploded at him, her expression alone saying that she was hurt. Often Casey could roll things off, but no. He had to take everything out on the one person who - other than Mikey - always seemed willing to help. Now if Casey was around, she wasn't sure what she could say about the situation exactly.

"I've had enough of this for today, please can you go home. I'll message you the answers if you're that concerned about it, but I cannot be around anyone right now." Her voice was soft, a little strained, but still quiet. Sorrowful.

They were only seventeen, yet all of this was piling up and up and up. She needed to be alone, at least for a little while.

Before she got to doing her work, however, she sent Donnie a message in case he came back online even for a moment.

"Sorry about that. I didn't know it would go so far, and nobody listens to me when I try and stop fights. If you're still willing to help, Casey went home. I hope you aren't mad at me."

The "offline" was staring her in the face, and she kept her eyes on the screen for about five minutes before starting on her maths homework. Her science was too hard for her, as they had put her in the higher tiers because of her fathers insistence. Either way, she was sure she'd be fine.

Later that night, she noticed she had an answer from Donnie. It was after she'd eaten dinner and watched a movie, but it said he'd only replied a couple of minutes ago and she assumed he had done the same. Or at least something similar. The message read;

"Nah, it's fine. You know how we get. I may have gotten less a hold on my emotions the longer it went on, though I could never actually be mad at you. I know we all get absorbed in arguments and although it isn't healthy, it's better to let things out. I'm just sorry it went on so long, I barely even managed to help much."

She replied quickly, looking at the clock. 1:48am.

"There's still time. :)"

A few moments after sending the message, the screen came up with that well-known sound and the nickname she'd given him when she first added him. She hadn't the heart to change it from the words "Super Best Friend", even if she felt more for him than that.

He looked worn out, possibly like he'd been crying and she felt her heart sink once more. Maybe that's what he'd been doing while he was gone.

A weak smile graced his features and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Still time to make today useful, right?" A small laugh was his only reward.

They worked through the night, and by the time she had finished, she looked up to find Donnie sleeping at his desk, mask off and face relaxed and peaceful. That was her reward. Watching him sleep peacefully at the computer, leaning on the keys and occasionally sending a message of jumbled letters and numbers whenever he moved too much. This, she thought, This is exactly what she wanted to wake up to in the mornings, she decided.

Pulling up her keyboard, she ended the call and left a message for him to find when he woke up.

"Love you, night Donatello. 3"