Donnie and April wake with the tv still on, snack wrappers piled all around them, and surrounded in blankets that Donnie doesn't remember being there.

April creeps through the mess almost silently, like she's the real ninja in this friendship, and reaches for the remote to shut off the science discovery channel. Donnie hadn't even realized it was still on, several hours of marathoning it the night before so far from his mind.

"Hey," April says, and it's the very first thing spoken all morning. April is still in her pajamas, with hair undone and a blanket hanging loosely around her shoulders. She has a small smile on her face when she nudges Donnie with her foot. "How ya' feeling?"

How is he feeling? Donnie doesn't completely know- he's got a headache though, that he's sure about. And his shoulders ache from the overuse of the battleshell, forgetting to take it off overnight will do that to him, he's realized. The whole night is fuzzy in a way his mind rarely ever allows, with parts here and there somewhat of a distant blur. Some of the more prominent memories return to the forefront of his mind after a couple seconds of consideration, however, and they soon beg to be examined and thought about.

He doesn't know how long he spent with his head on April's shoulder, trying to breathe, before those feelings morphed into something much harder and colder. He spent hours ranting about his brother, with April right beside him. He hadn't really paid attention to her when he was doing it, too busy spewing off hateful remarks about Leonardo, but he knew she was matching his quick pace the whole time and hearing him. He knew she was there, listening to his every demonic word, and that there is a good chance April O'Neil, his only human friend, probably thinks he's a nut job, a possibility made even more likely considering she still doesn't know what his fight was about, just that Donnie is pissed.

But April is still sitting next to him now, regardless of it all, and she's smiling in that certain way she always does in these tight situations. She's waiting for his answer with unmatchable patience, and that thought quickly reminds Donnie he still hasn't answered.

So, he swallows the dry lump in his throat and replies honestly (because it is the truth, whether he loves it or not, he knows the pit in his stomach has settled into something much more tame). "I'm feeling better," he says, though his voice is sore and thick.

April nods, scoots closer, and wraps an arm around his shoulder. And Donnie will never admit it, but that arm makes the remaining nerves settle.

"That's good," she tells him. "I knew venting your heart out would be the first step." She nudges his shoulder with her fist, proud look of accomplishment on her face, with no regard whatsoever for Donnie's impending concerned statement.

"...kinda sounds like you're implying another—"

"You and Leo gotta talk to each other. Not now," she exclaims, second she sees the look of horror on the genius's face. "But eventually. And that's not even the second step, that's, like, the third towards feeling better."

"I'm perfectly fine now," Donnie grumbles, pulling himself up to his feet as soon as he can. "That's excessive, and I've been told I know excessive. You can forget about what I said yesterday, anyhow. Leo is just- the same old, annoying nuisance he's always been."

"Do you want to talk about what he did?"

"Is that supposed to be your ridiculous second step?"

April sends him a sly smile. "Maybeeee.."

"Then no. No, I am good."

April keeps her grin when she nudges him in the direction of the kitchen. "Let's get something to eat then, c'mon. I'm starved." Before he can hint at something, or god forbid, not even bring it up at all, April announces, smooth as ever, "I promise I have coffee."

Donnie lets himself copy her smile now, and she pulls him forward.

"it's been a weird month. With all the bugs zipping around everywhere, and you and Leo and your whole—I dunno, I think everyone's out of sorts, it's not just you guys."

Donnie scowls, loud enough so she'll know he disagrees. He's got his head pressed against the nice cool countertop of April and her parent's kitchen while his best friend scrolls through her phone, eats her cereal, and tries to reason with him.

Ha. Donatello cannot be reasoned with, not when he knows what's going on and has no plans to change it in the foreseeable future; not when he knows what is likely happening at his own home, with his blue banded brother being the idiotic, gloating fool that he occasionally likes to be. Donnie has thought through this whole thing twenty-seven times just in the past hour, and there is no situation that doesn't have Leo explaining what a freak Donnie is to everyone else, and probably rubbing in his own good natured heart just for show.

Still, he can't help but to visibly cringe at that harsh wording, because it's something that's plagued his mind since he was small. Since he realized just how different he, his brothers and father are from the rest of society. From the first time they saw a human to the last time Donnie watched a monster horror movie, Donnie could never help but to hate the limitations he would forever have. Last he needs is another reminder of just how different he is from the outside world. How he can't function like everyone else. That he's terrible when it comes to feelings, and is not the least bit soft despite his soft-shell, and all he wanted to do was get better at tough conversations in a reasonable not freakish way and yet somehow he's here and it's all turned into this and now he's so dang furious at his brother.

April is patting his arm when he looks back up from the crook of his elbow, her cellphone abandoned and lying face down on the counter away from them both.

"I need an aspirin," Donnie declares suddenly, before going to get just that. April pulls herself up onto the countertop when he returns.

"Hey, all's gonna be fine, alright? I promise."

Promises are nearly always unhelpful, especially in these moments of unpredictability, but April doesn't deserve his hardened sarcasm.

So, Donnie forces a smiles and replies in an overly thrilled voice, "all already is fine. I am just not on speaking terms with a certain brother."

April purses her lips; chooses her words carefully.

"I know Leo's been... bothering you, but maybe it's not as bad as you think? Dee, whatever happened, I'm sure he didn't mean for it to turn into this. Maybe it's just 'cause he cares?"

"Ha," Donnie remarks, out loud now. "Leo cares about no one, but himself. Next suggestion."

April puts down the spoon she's holding, eyes narrowed when she scoots over to be directly in front of him. Because she knows this and knows life has been really real lately, and whatever they're fighting about probably has nothing on that. "Hey. You know that's not true."

"I know Leo is Leo, and he has the mental capacity to care about very few things."

"Donnie." April keeps her voice firm, solid, and standing when she crosses her arms. "'S'not cool. You might be pissed at him, but you don't get to talk like that. He does care."

Donnie makes a noise of disbelief, but leaves it at that, and when he goes back to resting his head on his arms and looking miserable, April swings down from the counter to stand up straight.

"Listen," she says. "When you went AWOL a few days ago, he was so freaked, i honestly thought he was gonna snap. He kinda did, actually, Raph sure thought so—"

"—April, April, please," Donnie fires back, smooth and dramatic in a different way than normal. "I have heard all about their fight, I know Raph and Leo have a-" He brings out the air quotes. "difference of opinion on my short absence. They can fight about whatever they want, my curiosity is now dead."

"Um, your curiosity is so not dead," April retorts, completely convinced. "I'm just saying Leo cares."

She doesn't get to say more than that, because her home phone rings.

Donnie won't admit he's grateful, but if the look April gives him is any indication, it still doesn't mean they're done with this conversation. More discussing his brother awaits, which is the exact opposite of what he'd been wanting.

April's voice returns to a overjoyed octave the second she realizes the caller is her dad. And for a couple brief seconds, Donnie wishes he had his phone to be able to communicate with his father and brothers. Just to check in once or twice while he stays here, so he can be assured some life ending trip will not be greeting them in his absence.

But nope, that genius device is now sprinkled with cracks and shattered tech at the bottom of his bag.

Donnie only listens to April's phone call for a second or two, before he goes back to what April calls brooding. It is not brooding, or pouting, or anything else in between.

He's just sitting here, thinking, but also trying not to think about Leo. Because he really doesn't want to get all worked up again and fight with April over this, especially when she's being this perfect example of friendship and he's just mad at the world.

He had wanted to just sit and drink his coffee, dang it. This is another one of those glorious times where Donnie wouldn't mind being alone in silence for hours on end.

Just silence, and regret about more things than he can put together right now. And, of course, the cellphone that he destroyed. Not only would it be good to be knowledgeable about the possible end of the world in the lair, but it would help to research ways to handle the doom that is his life again, obviously...

Who cares who cares who cares

He cares.

But Leo.

He can't go back to the lair until this thing has passed, and he definitely cannot face Leo- quite possibly ever again.

"Dee," April sits back down beside him, words gentle like she knows he's thinking something through. "You good?"

His positive demeanor cracks, a little.

"...yeah. Yeah, I'm good," he answers, though even he's not sure how true that is. A part of him does feel it, he's okay after all, he hasn't completely lost it- he hasn't no matter what he sometimes tends to think, but there's another part that's like a ticking time bomb, about to erupt and ruin everything yet again. "How's your dad?"

April gives him a look, before brightening at the mention of her father. She tells him all about his trip to Canada and how he claims things really are better there.

Donnie can believe it.

He gets started on fixing his phone at 1:52pm, while April's in the shower.

At 2:28pm, April gets out and her mouth drops open immediately upon seeing the mess of parts.

"Oh, god," she says, heart hovering over the fluttering stages of panic. "Please tell me you didn't dismantle the TV."

Donnie grins and he motions to the perfectly intact television set. "Please. Your television is not nearly advanced enough to have what resources I needed."

"That... doesn't make me feel better."

Despite the tone, she sits down beside him, eyes clearly curious. "...What're you working on?"

"Fixing the phone. There is a chance that throwing it against the wall last night was not the most effective solution."

She smirks. "Yeah, no kiddin'." April shifts her head onto his shoulder, letting their conversation lap into comfortable silence for a while so she can watch. "Do you just bring these supplies everywhere with you?"

"Someone has to be prepared for the worst case scenario at all times."

April grins and tells him honestly, "that's really cool, Dee. I knew you brought along tech to everything, but to be able to fix your whole phone and get it working again here? I know who I'm coming to if I ever break mine."

Donnie swaps out the microprocessor with something a little more stable. He holds it into place, formatting the other parts around it. "Thanks, April." He speaks honestly, too.

3:40pm and they're done. April holds out the bag of scrapped parts and Donnie dumps them in there. They fist bump without even thinking to before April swings the bag into the trash. Then, she crawls over to see the handiwork.

The phone lights up the second it's supposed to and April cheers in delight. She already knew it would, Don has built far more impressive things than this, however there's no denying this fix it opportunity as a good thing.

A stream of texts come in then, all from Raph and Mikey. Donnie can't help but notice there are none from Leo, but refuses to let himself focus on it.

He slides his thumb across the screen, clicking on Mikey's messages first. His baby brother sent him a selfie in front of the lab, lamely captioning it with you could be here, but you playing, which, if anything, gets an eye roll out of the genius. Along with a handful of other texts, there's clearly a lot that indicates, at least from Mikey, that Donnie was missed.

Donnie can't help but smile at the inclusiveness he's received, and he quickly shoots back several replies.

He goes to Raph's and gets a couple messages checking in, about how he spoke with Splinter and he seems cool with his absence so long as you realize you're coming back don, about how he hopes all's good. We went oozesquito hunting last night, you and April missed out, Raph reminds him, before adding in a quick comment about how they'll probably go again tonight.

Donnie rolls his eyes, but thumbs back a probably even quicker response about how him and April are busy. They are busy tonight. April mentioned pizza and asked for help on homework, and Donnie, sure as anything, isn't going to miss helping with actual human school homework again.

Raph and Mikey are likely asleep now, Donnie's pressing on opposite of their schedule. They won't even see his replies for a few more hours, but something about the communication makes him feel good.

Oh sweet sweet phone, never leave again.

He has the world at his fingertips once again, and although Donnie wasn't able to use the newest equipment still stored away in his lab, the phone works pretty well. And thankfully so, because when he scrolls through the glorious world of the Internet, he feels so much calmer.

"What'd everybody have to say?" April asks. Donnie looks up and she's now at the kitchen, juggling her own cellphone against her ear—likely for the pizza call. She smiles and Donnie smiles back.

"Oh, nothing big. Just updates about what they've been doing," he replies easily.

April nods and places the order. And when they move to her room to go work on homework, Donnie puts the phone away.

"Okay, okay so. Chemistry."

"One of the best subjects."

"More like one of the worst. Which is why we gotta ace this so I can get my C up to a B. Mmkay?"

"Honestly April, do you really think I'd let you get by with something as average as a C?"

April grins, holding back another hint of laughter. "You're such a dork," she concludes fondly.

They take ten minutes of discussing whether or not chemistry is a good thing before finally getting starting on the actual homework part of it. 50 questions that had piled in on April's back, but she's no longer worried. Not with the know-it-all she happens to be friends with. "What is the chemical name for HCH3 CO2?"

"Acetic acid."

"How many valence electrons does chromium have?"

"Six."

"Who first proposed the atomic theory?"

"John Daltan."

April clicks her tongue, clearly impressed. She writes down the answers one by one, before she fires the next question at him. "Okay. Is CH4 a covalent bond?"

"Uhhh, obviously it is."

"Obviously? Obviously?" April shoots back, throwing her arms up in the air. "How's that obvious?"

They work like this for hours.

By the time moonlight's streaming through April's window and they've moved onto web programming, something Donnie claims he's much happier with (though April doesn't get how when he's mentally grades ahead of her in all subjects), the pizza's delivered and they're sitting back chiding one another on their logic.

"—I can't just use whatever program I want, the teacher has to decide—"

"—okay, fine, respecting your teacher is important, I get that, but why would he want you to use a program that lags and has been destroyed by viruses countless times April, it makes no sense."

April has to keep herself from giggling and only jokingly replying, "take it up with the school board, baby."

At some point in the night, Mikey sends Donnie a picture of a pizza they're eating only for Donnie to snap back a pic of April posing with their own pizza box.

Mikey's mind is blown by that and it entertains them all until the computer program finally loads and they can get back to work on the last set of April's homework.

And when they finally finish, they go back to talking. Spur of the moment thoughts to things intensely calculated, the conversation switches back and forth. They sit side by side against the wall, finishing up the remaining dinner, and Donnie doesn't even think about his brothers and the fight that unfolded with Leo during the full hour that they're talking.

Until..

"So I figured, probably not our best bet to sleep on the floor again, I've got a whole ton of sleeping bags if you want 'em, and i can get out the spare mattr—"

April stops what she's saying in the middle of it, with eyes glued to her phone screen, and immediately Donnie's attention is focused on what might have gone wrong.

"Uh, April?" He starts to ask, sliding a little more over to see what she's seeing.

"Shit," April mutters, tugging her gaze away from her phone. She lifts it up to her friend's face, so he can see. "Raph texted."

"Oh?" Donnie asks, confused as to why that's a problem. Yeah, he's not really up for focusing on family drama with anyone for too long, doesn't even want to think about a certain brother of his, but Raph... is not that brother. Raph hasn't done anything wrong to warrant April's negative tone. Donnie can't even detect why him texting could be a problem.

He squints at the phone screen, reading the jumble of texts. Then his face contorts in a worse type of way than April's had. "...Oh."

"Yeah, oh." April answers, gently now. "So, uh... how we feeling about that?"

A/N: so im gonna repeat what i said on tumblr in case you don't follow me on there but, im going to take a couple weeks off from regularly updating so i can get back into the groove of writing. lately it's been difficult, this chapter was really hard for some reason. i like this story a lot, im happy with it and i want to finish, but its not going to come out how it should if im just forcing myself to do chapter after chapter. we're getting closer to the ending and i want to enjoy writing it, so the plan's to take a couple weeks off to get over this writers block and then i'll get back to it

anyways, on a brighter note, today i was contacted about the tmnt reader's choice awards! a lot of my stuff was nominated for a bunch of different categories, thank you guys so much! im so thankful for everyone who reads my fics. i appreciate you all a lot!