First of all, we want to thank all those who take the time to review. Just the smallest comment makes us so happy. People have no idea how much a review can make an author's day. So thank you, guys! :D Stay awesome!
Sorry about the previous cliffhanger. Here's your reward.
Apriltello fluffness ahead!
And of course, a huge thank you to Queequegg for the extensive beta reading. You rock, gurl!
Half-way across the dojo, Splinter's ears twitched and his head spun at the sounds of distress coming from the far end of the room.
"Yame!" he shouted to the whole of the dojo as he sprang towards Donatello, the others' shouts already abating.
"Master Splinter!" April called, her voice wavering. She was all over Donatello, hands fumbling about in a panicked daze. Splinter was already aware of the situation before she even had time to explain.
"I hit him in the throat, he can't breathe! It was an accident!"
Splinter gently urged her aside as he took her place kneeling in front of his son. Donatello's eyes were as saucers, shooting Splinter a brief glance, a silent cry for help. A strangled sound forced its way out of his mouth as he struggled to pull in a breath.
"Donatello, look at me," he commanded in the same voice he would use during lessons. He could see Donatello forcing himself to hold his gaze, his features contorted in alarm, his mouth agape like a fish out of water.
"Oh God, I killed him! I killed him!" April cried.
"Who?" came Karai's voice behind them, but nobody paid her any mind. Karai and Raph were still engaged in a picassian knot of strangled limbs. Splinter had forgotten to keep an eye on them.
Unaware that anything had even happened until they heard April scream, they finally disentangled themselves from each other, Raphael shoving the kunoichi aside to hurry over to whatever had happened that had them all grouped around the crouching figures.
Splinter took Donatello's hands, lovingly yet firmly leading them away from his throat to rest at his thighs, then made him sit up straight, studying the situation all the while. It wasn't as bad, he thought, and felt the churning of terror in his own gut recede.
"Relax, my son. It's nothing, you are just a little agitated," he assured. Donatello would trust him enough to know it was true. "Breathe with me."
Splinter guided Donatello through the breathing, setting the pace for him as he strived to keep a rhythm. All the while April watched, heart in her mouth, her own breath knocked out of her, and in her mind she implored Donnie to get through it and just say something. She felt a touch on her back and she turned to see Leonardo.
"He's going to be okay," his eyes promised. It wasn't good enough. She had to see for herself.
It took a couple of minutes, but Donnie's breaths started coming in a little easier each time.
Tension slowly ebbed away from Donnie's face as he eventually started to relax. He swallowed, tears of strain escaping the corners of his eyes. At last he inhaled shakily, pulling in a lungful of air before releasing it forth, his features going lax as he nodded his head in reassurance. There was a general sigh of relief.
"It's good, I'm good," he rasped, making a soothing motion of his hand at his audience, and April bolted forth, crouching before him.
"Oh my God! Donnie, I'm so sorry!"
"That's ok- hem… okay," he croaked and prudently cleared his throat.
Splinter gave him a soft pat on his shoulders and stood.
"Rest," he said, then turned to the nearest turtle. "Bring ice."
Leonardo gave a nod and headed purposefully for the exit.
Still wobbly from the scare, Donnie sat back on his heels, massaging his trachea. April sat close beside him giving his arm a few soft, comforting rubs as the rest gathered around.
"You okay, dude?" Mikey asked, the creases of concern not entirely gone from his brow.
"Yeah. Although I think I might have... swallowed my Adam's apple," Donnie said carefully, his poor larynx still struggling to form words.
"No way you'd pass that big boy, bro. You're safe," Mikey joked, and beamed at the little chuckle of approval from Karai.
April looked up at Donnie, his expression still a little hazy, and saw the two stains of moisture on the violet fabric under his eyes. Her stomach gave a lurch, leaden with guilt.
When Donnie turned he caught her staring, all hint of anger gone from her face and replaced by something that actually hurt more to look at. He could never stand to see that look on her and tried to assuage her worries, and by extension his own.
"You know, if we were characters in a game of Mazes and Mutants, that would've earned you like two level-ups. Critical hit!" he wheezed, and the wince of pain that followed might have taken a little out of the celebratory tone. But it worked. It made her smile...
"I almost killed you," she giggled a little nervously.
"Hey, what can I say. It took my breath away."
"Dude, no." Raphael groaned. Loudly.
But April laughed, finally a little relieved, and whenever that happened, Donnie would instantly stop caring about anything Raph could ever dish out.
Oh, man. He wanted to hold her so badly right now, and let her know that it was all good, and how grateful he was that she cared. He had to remind himself not to stare, when really he could bask in the light of her smile all day.
"Told you not to go easy on me," she said playfully and Raph barked a laugh.
"Yeah, maybe April should be going easy on you, Donnie!" he joked, and the wisecracking that followed was cut off by a blunt "Yame!"
Everybody turned to see a scowl of utmost disapproval on Splinter's face, especially directed at Raph. Their sensei jerked his head sideways, that simple gesture ordering them to sit in line before him, surely to better administer his wrath.
They all started moving to take their places across the rugs, certain that whatever Splinter hadn't liked about that exchange -and why he had singled out Raphael- they would soon know. April kindly eased Donnie up by the arm to make sure he wouldn't lose balance or anything. But even though it was soon obvious he didn't need the help, he didn't turn it down either. Just having April be all over him like this was its own excuse.
Leo walked in through the entrance then with an ice pack that he handed over to Donnie to massage over the sore area, and joined the rest. Then the row of young ninjas waited for the scolding that was to come.
Splinter regarded them all with severe eyes to make sure they were all listening. April's head was low and her brow was furrowed. He would deal with that in a bit.
"Raphael."
Said turtle winced at the sound of his name.
"That," Splinter said, "was not an example. April did not do well today, and I'm fairly certain she did not do that on purpose."
April's head hung lower as confirmation.
"Therefor, it was not something to celebrate. Contrary to what Raphael may think, we never aim to hurt our sparring partner."
"I never said that, sensei! It was only a joke!"
Splinter flicked his head towards him and he froze.
Once Raphael had settled down again, eyes lowered in submission, he continued.
"As I was saying… You hurt the enemy, not your fellow dojo team-mates. In here we must be watchful of our own movement so these things never happen. Training is not just about learning fancy ways to maim your opponent. It's not even about winning. It is an exercise in teamwork and, most importantly, self awareness. Control. It should go without saying, the throat is off limits in a friendly environment. So we do not joke about this. It was a mistake," Splinter pointedly chewed out the last word, "and it could have been a very grave one."
"I know, sensei," Raph admitted, then in a show of humility added "Sorry, Donnie."
Splinter was satisfied, and he then stepped over to stand before April. His shadow loomed over her small cringing figure.
"April, I expect what happened taught you a valuable lesson. If I had known you were harboring such anger I would not have let you spar. I hope next time you are feeling this way you will trust us enough to let us know before, instead of projecting your feelings in such hurtful manner."
"I-I wasn't that angry, it just... slipped! I wasn't thinking and..."
But one look from Splinter was enough to silence her protests. And just like Raphael, she bowed her head submissively, because when Splinter looked at them like this, there was nothing else to do.
She was absolutely mortified. Her personal life was seeping through the cracks of her facade and everyone was ogling at the puddle.
Beside her, she saw Donatello risking a glance at her. She didn't meet his eyes. She knew Splinter didn't appreciate being ignored when he was in the middle of a lesson.
"You've all heard me say this before: the dojo is our sanctuary, where we devote ourselves to our art. When you come in here, you leave your troubles at the door, you do not drag their weight in with you. Emotions are inflammable. Like fuel, they can be a powerful driving force. But there must be someone at the wheel, or we become dangerous to ourselves and those around us."
Splinter let his young pupils mull over that for a few seconds, and ultimately locked gazes with April.
"Self awareness," he said finally, tapping his temple with his clawed finger.
"It won't happen again, sensei. I promise."
"Good," Splinter said solemnly, inclining his head. Then his tone changed. "Don't feel bad, April. This isn't the first time this has happened. We have all made mistakes. The important thing is that we rectify… and learn from them."
"Hai, sensei," April muttered, the soothing voice of her mentor washing away some of the superficial guilt clogging up her conscience.
She had a distinct feeling this lesson transcended the dojo walls, but how to implement it out there was a whole different deal.
Splinter lifted his eyes from her and spoke up.
"You know my door is always open, for anything you need to talk about. Any one of you."
"Hai, sensei." This time the words were chanted by everyone present.
"You may go."
There was a murmur of feet as everybody stood and started making their way towards the exit. Mikey immediately started coaxing them towards the kitchen, talking about what he was going to have for lunch.
April's first instinct was to get out of there as soon as possible, but one look from Donnie had her pinned to the spot. He didn't say anything. All he did was pause his steps to offer her a casual smile over his shoulder, as though checking to see if she was following. And so she did, partly thankful that his approach still seemed to be based on avoiding questions, like she'd requested earlier.
Which was more than she could say for some...
"Boy, did you get up on the wrong side today, April," Raph jested as he passed her, and she barely stopped herself from falling flat on her face as a result of the gargantuan pat on her back. After all this time being the victim of Raph's lack of clemency, she had thankfully learned to see these things coming.
"Don't tease her, it's just that time of the month. I can relate," Karai said, catching up to them, and nobody bought the empathetic tone for a moment.
"It's not that!" April grunted half-heartedly before Michelangelo joined in the conversation.
"I can make you chocolate pizza, cuz I know from experience that chocolate helps in these cases…"
April had to wonder what kind of experience a male turtle could have on that matter, but then she remembered she was talking to Mikey. And above all, he had just offered chocolate and pizza. So screw pride.
"Okay," she said. "Hey, but no weird extra toppings."
Mikey gave her a concerned once over.
"Man, it really is serious… I'm gonna have to work double-time!" he said right before he burst into a sprint and almost ran over Raphael as they both passed the kitchen curtains, followed shortly by April and Karai.
"So, Don… you think that's all it is? That she's… you know?" Leo asked Donnie covertly before reaching the drapes, pointing a thumb inside, and Donnie gave him a look.
Of course he knew, if only for all the time he and April spent together. Obviously it helped that he had a better calendar inside his mind than any smartphone. And as much as he tried to appear as though he was weirded out by the question, he couldn't fool Leo.
Donnie pressed his lips in surrender, a little smile forming as he admitted to it, and he shook his head.
"Not yet."
Leo nodded, visibly satisfied.
"So how're you feeling?" he asked, one hand on his carapace as they passed the drapes to the kitchen to join the rest.
"Good!" He cleared his throat, but it did nothing to placate the gruffness in his voice. He took off the ice pack to rub off the cold with his other hand and he saw April shooting him a worried glance from across the table. She was quick to take her eyes away, though, as she was presently in a heated discussion with Mikey on the pros and cons of chocolate-jalapeño pizza.
"I'll just have to take a few meds for good measure," Donnie went on. "Probably purée my pizza for the next couple days. But then I'll be good as new."
"Wait. I know just the thing," Karai said out of nowhere, and opened one of the cabinets to retrieve a pot, filling it with water and leaving it to heat on the stove.
"Ah, yes! Vapors!" Donnie said approvingly in his grave new voice, and respectfully turned down the first bowl of cheese nachos, his sore throat crying out at the very thought of solid food.
While the nacho bowl was being passed around, Splinter announced that he'd be taking a walk out on the tunnel and made to grab a cheese-sicle from the freezer. He stopped to pat Ice Cream Kitty on the head, who purred, before closing it and heading out, the stick of the cheese-sicle held gracefully between his fingertips.
A couple more bowls filled with a variety of snacks went around as the group immersed itself in the usual small talk. Mikey was warming them up to a new movie he had found on VHS. It was about ninjas, apparently, and it promised to be as cheesy and over-the-top as the cover art made it out to be. Eventually Karai got up to retrieve the boiling water from the stove, setting it down on the table near Donnie and adding a bunch of eucalyptus leaves.
"Come 'ere," she commanded, and shoved Donnie's shoulders down, forcing him onto a stool so his face was enveloped with the soothing scent of the steam.
"Uh, tha-" he started to say before his head was covered in its entirety by some kind of rag. "Thanks," he tried again from under the medium-sized towel, fingers nervously drumming on the wooden surface of the table at the snickers coming in all directions.
"As much as I am looking forward to laughing at Donnie right now, I'm gonna take a leak before Karai thinks of fixing her makeup."
"Thank you for the insight, Raph," Donnie said, lifting the towel over his face to shoot Raph a sarcastic glance for good measure as he stepped through the kitchen curtains.
"Oh my gosh, Donnie!" Mikey said, and Donatello turned to see his little brother pointing a dramatic finger at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted turtle zits. "I figured out who you sound like! You totally sound like Leo!"
The group burst into loud laughter at the realization, and that included Donatello. His voice sounded absolutely rugged.
"I'm the hero New York deserves," Donnie said in a brooding fashion, towel still draped over his head like a baroque wig, and everyone laughed even harder.
"Shouldn't you be resting your voice instead of goofing around with it?" Leo scolded.
"Worried, Leo? Because it looks to me like you got some competition," Karai said with a smack to Leo's shell, knocking his eye-roll right off.
"Hey, if this is all it took I would've done it sooner!" Donnie nudged a shoulder at April and she giggled mischievously.
"Don't let Master Splinter hear you say that…" she breathed. Her smile made him smile, and with that he proclaimed Project Cheer-up a success.
"But you won't get to keep your new Batman voice, right?" Karai joked.
"No, unfortunately I'll be sounding like regular me in a few days," Donnie said in mock-wistful tones.
"Well I, for one, am glad for that," April said, and she gently eased Donnie's head down over the steaming bowl, draping the towel back over his face, then gave the top of the white mound a soft pat as a reward for his compliance.
Donnie exhaled a sigh and breathed in the palliative fumes, letting them do their thing as he tried to follow the new trail of conversation, which soon had split up into two or three nuclei as he just sat there probably looking like a cheap halloween costume.
He could hear April and Karai chatting it up near the sink behind him, and they were talking about the new armor. April sounded very intrigued, which revived the butterflies in Donnie's stomach. And because his face was covered by a towel, he didn't have to worry about his stupid smile being seen. So he allowed it to stretch to its full width as goosebumps started crawling their way up his arms at the thought of April wearing the armor that he had made for her. He'd already taken a few notes from the fashion show to add to his design. Would the rivets be a bit tacky for her?
Finally the snack bowls became empty -which didn't take long with Mikey around- and soon there were sounds of sliding stools and discarded kitchenware as they each started heading out to go about their respective business. Donnie folded back the front of the towel over his head and held the pot up under his chin, a cloth protecting his hands from the hot metal. Eyes intent on April, as if he feared he could lose sight of her, he followed everybody out.
He'd been dying to tell her about his chat with future Donatello the previous afternoon, waiting for the perfect chance, but such a moment hadn't presented itself yet, between homework, and her dad, and training... They hadn't had that much time to just hang out at all lately for the same reasons.
And with that last midnight hug from two days ago still fresh on his mind, he'd been striving to find an answer to his questions all day in the way she looked at him, the way she talked to him. He could almost swear there was something different. But how could he know it wasn't simply what he wanted to see?
He caught up to her but when he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out was a faint warble. He cleared his throat, stifling a wince, and saw she was already paying close attention, waiting for him to speak with a smile of amusement. Man, he was going to miss the extra attention once this went away.
"I was gonna ask…" He paused and cleared his throat again. Every syllable sent a pang through his aching vocal chords. "You gonna stay for lunch? I think Casey's coming over, we could have that study session we talked about."
He saw her bite the inside of her cheek.
"I can't. Dad's back from the trip with his therapy group and we're gonna have lunch together."
Donnie did his best not to let his disappointment show.
"Oh, right! How did that go?" he asked.
April had told him about the psychotherapy group Mr.O'neil had been collaborating with, the very same that had helped him a couple of months ago. The group was one of many that City Hall had been promoting for a while, aimed at the hundreds of New Yorkers that were still dealing with the aftermath of the last alien invasion. Kirby had gotten better and decided to help others in the same situation as he, as a way of giving something back. Judging by what little April had told them, Kirby was far from fully recovered, but he was active, getting his life back, and being an aid to others was helping him as well.
It was important to April. So Donnie was not exactly faking interest.
But April was looking at her T-Phone's clock now, suddenly in a hurry, and once more Donnie saw his odds of spending time with April that day vanish before his eyes.
"I'll ask him. I-I really gotta run."
She paused, and reached out to touch Donnie's hand, carefully as he was still holding the pot. "Sorry I almost killed you, Don."
Donnie gave a wheezy chuckle, shrugging that away, and her honest smile warmed him to the core.
"Take care, okay? I'll call you later to see how you are."
"Okay," Donnie said, while in his head he was hopping around in joy just for the prospect of getting a phonecall from April. "Say hi to your dad."
She promised to do just that, picked up her backpack and was off. Donnie watched her go, jumping over the turnstiles to disappear down the tunnel.