Why is he different? Why is he special? Those were the questions that Donnie kept coming back to, no matter how hard he tried to ignore them. They gnawed at his mind, distracting him from his work and keeping him up late at night, lying awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He had swore to himself time and time again that he was above emotions, that he was the logical one, the genius—he didn’t have time for feelings, especially not for you. But that didn’t stop the thoughts from slipping in when he least expected it.

He couldn’t help but wonder what it was about you that made him so... unsettled. Was it the way you smiled when you saw him? Or how you always seemed so effortlessly kind, never judging him for his quirks or how he often buried himself in his inventions? He swore to himself it wasn’t a crush, and yet, every time you looked at him, every time you smiled at him, he could feel something tug at his chest. It’s ridiculous, he thought. I’m a genius. I don’t get distracted by petty things like this. I don’t have crushes.

But that didn’t stop his heart from speeding up whenever you were near. And when you smiled at him—oh, that stupid smile—it made his face heat up in a way he hated. He was a turtle, for crying out loud! And he couldn’t even admit to himself that he was having feelings for you, especially not to his brothers. His brothers would never let him live it down. Well, except maybe Leo, who might be too busy with his own stuff to make a big deal of it. But Raph? Raph would have a field day. And his father... what would Splinter say?

It was just easier to pretend like nothing was wrong, to bury those thoughts deep down where they couldn’t reach him. If he could just focus on his work—just focus—maybe the feelings would go away. But every time you entered his space, they came flooding back. Like now.

You walked into his lab, and for a moment, Donnie’s brain froze. You were here. Again. He glanced up, immediately going back to work, trying to ignore the heat crawling up his neck. He was working