Chapter Text
“So? How is it?”
Donatello looked up from the foamy beverage in his hands and into the expectant gaze of his childhood best friend.
“It’s a little sweet for me.”
April rolled her eyes. “I knew you were gonna say that. And it’s a gingerbread latte, Dee. It’s supposed to be sweet.”
“If you knew I wasn’t going to like it, why give it to me? Why not test out your weird coffee creations on someone else?”
“No one else has the qualifications. I don’t…” April paused as the door to the little diner swung open, letting in a blast of chilly air from outside, “I don’t know anyone else who drinks as much coffee as you.”
Donnie snickered at that, taking another sip of his too-sweet coffee. He did drink a lot of coffee, and they both knew it. Besides, the sweetness wasn’t too bad, especially compared to the awful bitter coffee he had drunk on the plane just a few hours earlier. He shuddered at the memory.
“You don’t have to keep drinking it if you don’t like it,” April said, seeing him shake and reaching across the countertop to take the cup from his hands, “I have other coffees for you to try.”
But Donnie shook his head. “Nah, I think it’s growing on me.” He took another sip to prove it, “Besides, I need the caffeine to get through rehearsal tonight.”
April shrugged, leaving the mug in his hands, “Suit yourself. You sure you’re okay to go to rehearsal, though? Mikey told me it’s been going late almost every night. Aren’t you tired after your flight?”
Donnie waved his hands dismissively. “I’ll be fine. But…” he glanced at the clock on the wall, “…I should get going if I don’t want to be late.” He downed the rest of his gingerbread latte and pushed his padded vinyl chair back from the diner’s countertop. “Thanks for the coffee, April. It’s definitely good enough to go on the holiday coffee menu.”
April beamed, “Perf! But before you go, I have…” April fished around in the pockets of her apron and pulled out a slip of paper, “…about five more holiday coffee ideas that I need approval for. Stop by tomorrow and try another one for me, okay?”
Donnie nodded as best he could while simultaneously putting on his winter hat and coat.
“Great! See you tomorrow, Dee! And be safe driving out to the school. It’s still way cold out.”
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April was right. It was way cold out. Cold for a December in New York, anyways. The sides of the roads leading up to the school were already piled high with snow, and the gathering clouds overhead told Donnie that more was on the way. The festive lights strung between buildings and on lightposts glittered off the snow as he drove through the city streets slowly and carefully.
He made it to the school right on time, even with as slow as he was driving. Trying not to be late, he accidentally let the heavy wooden door, seasonally decorated with an evergreen wreath, close behind him with a loud slam. The sound echoed loudly throughout Nexus High School’s wide atrium space and down the adjoining hallways. Donnie winced as he noticed the open door to the auditorium just on the other side of the atrium, hoping he hadn’t interrupted the rehearsal with the sudden noise.
“Donnie! You made it!”
From that very doorway appeared Michelangelo, who had paused briefly to see who had slammed the door and then began running towards him at full speed. Used to his little brother’s enthusiastic greetings, Donnie braced himself and opened his arms, preparing for impact.
Mikey crashed into him barely a second latter. His winter clothes made him heavier than Donnie was expecting, and he stumbled back and hit his metal-covered shell on the door, making another slam echo throughout the atrium. Mikey paid no attention to the sudden sound, squeezing his brother tight and asking him a zillion questions. How was his flight? How was the drive? Did he have lunch? Was he—
“Mikey,” Donnie said firmly, pushing him back by the shoulders until he could look into Mikey’s eyes, “One question at a time, please.”
“Oh, oops,” Mikey said sheepishly. Then he pushed back in for another tight hug, pressing his head under Donnie’s chin, “I just missed you, Dee.”
“I missed you too,” Donnie brought his own arms up to hug Mikey back, squeezing just as tight and telling himself that the moisture in his eyes was from the lingering chill in the air and not from anything else. It had really been too long.
When it felt like the hug had gone on long enough, Donnie spoke. “Mike? Rehearsal? The play?”
“Right!” Mikey immediately released him, grabbing his wrist instead and pulling him towards the auditorium, “Did I ever tell you what play we’re doing?”
Donnie nodded his head and let himself be dragged, knowing Mikey was going to tell him anyway.
“It’s Romeo and Juliet! Isn’t that awesome?”
“Still not sure why you picked that one. It has nothing at all to do with Christmas,” Donnie pointed out unmaliciously. He’d said the same thing when Mikey told him the first time.
“Aww come on, I thought you would love it! Wasn’t it your favorite play you were in during high school?”
“It was, but--”
Mikey continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “Anyways, that’s exactly why I need you here for rehearsals. I need your help with this whole directing thing! You were an actor in the play, so you know it pretty well, right?” He paused on the threshold of the auditorium, fixing Donnie with his best puppy dog eyes, “You’ll help me out, right?”
“Of course I will,” even if Donnie hadn’t already come to the school with the intention of doing just that, there was nothing he wouldn’t do if Mikey gave him that look, “In fact, I already have some notes about the blocking in Act III, scene I. Mercutio and Tybalt need to be more—”
“Donnie,” Mikey interrupted, a mischievous look suddenly on his face, “Look up.”
Donnie looked up.
Just above their heads, hanging in the doorway to the auditorium, was a something green and leafy with white berries.
Mistletoe, Donnie realized as he looked back down into Mikey’s expectant face.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“But Donnie! It’s tradition!”
“It’s a stupid tradition. Besides, we need to—” Mikey cut him off with a swift kiss to the cheek. The grin never left his face.
“See? It’s not so bad,” Mikey teased, then tilted his own cheek towards Donnie, “Now it’s your turn.”
Donnie sighed and reluctantly pressed a small kiss to Mikey’s cheek, acutely aware of the students moving around inside the auditorium as they prepared for rehearsal. He hoped none of them were watching.
“Thanks, Dee,” Mikey said cheerfully, as he pulled Donnie fully into the auditorium, “Now, let’s get this started!”
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“Great job, everyone. One more time, then we can move on to the fight scene in Act 3. Start from act 2, scene 4. Line, uh, line… where were we again? Oh! Line 38.”
There was a flutter of sounds as script pages turned in response to Michelangelo’s direction.
Mikey had introduced him to the student actors as his ‘professional acting consultant,’ a title which had made Donnie roll his eyes. He was hardly a professional, after all. The last acting he had done was his second year of college, over five years ago. He had meant to keep up with acting as a hobby, but in his final years of college, his workload had just been too intense, and after graduation… well, between his work and moving to a new city and supporting Mikey through art school, he just didn’t have the time.
Besides, he wasn’t doing all that much other than sitting in the front row, facing the stage, with Mikey’s notes and script on his lap. He offered advice when Mikey asked him a question or an actor was confused about their lines, but he was mostly just sitting and watching them rehearse. Mikey was doing an excellent job at directing the rehearsal, Donnie noted with pride. His directions were confident and informative, despite the nervous looks he would throw to Donnie over his shoulder occasionally. He didn’t even break his stride when someone’s phone rang unexpectedly, startling everyone on stage and even Donnie in the audience.
As they finish the section with an enthusiastic ‘O, thou art deceived’ from the actor playing Mercutio, Donnie can only feel more proud of his little brother
“Excellent job, guys,” Mikey addressed the crowd of actors on stage with a beam, “That’s the best run we’ve had so far. Next is act 3, scene 1, so Mercutio, and Tybalt, grab your swords and get into position, okay? Also…”
Mikey paused and looked around, searching for someone, “Where did our stage combat instructor wander off to? I swear he was just—”
“Here!” a voice came from the curtains at stage left. Something about that voice caught Donnie’s attention, and he perked up in his seat. Mikey had hired a stage combat instructor? Who could it be? “Sorry, I was just taking a phone call real quick.”
Mikey waved off the apology, looking into the backstage area at someone that Donnie couldn’t see from his seat in the audience, “Don’t worry about it. Just let me know next time, okay?”
“Will do, bossman.”
Donnie’s eyes narrowed. Something about the grin he could hear in that person’s voice was tantalizingly familiar. But there’s no way it could be…
A familiar face emerged from behind the stage. A face belonging to someone that Donnie thought he had seen the last of when he walked across the stage at high school graduation.
He was taller than Donnie remembered, but the smile was the same, sharp but earnest. As his eyes found Donnie in the audience, the grin only widened until it split his face in a smile so bright it was almost blinding
Donnie’s heart rose even as his stomach dropped.
“Donatello!” Leonardo Hamato, the star of Nexus high basketball team, the second son of the retired action star Lou Jitsu, and the guy that Donnie had been hopelessly in love with for all of high school, had stepped out from stage left, prop sword in hand, “Good to see you! It’s been so long. How have you been?
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Donnie dragged his brother into the atrium the second he called for a break.
“Why didn’t you warn me?”
Mikey looked at him blankly, “Not sure what you’re talking about, Dee.”
Donnie glared at him. “Why didn’t you warn me that he was going to be here?”
“He? You mean Leo?” Mikey tilted his head, “I told you I hired a combat instructor.”
“You didn’t tell me it was him!” Donnie pinched the bridge of his nose and turned away from his brother. His heart hadn’t stopped beating hard since Leo had walked out onto the stage.
“…I didn’t know you had a problem with him,” Mikey said slowly.
“I don’t! But you know how I—” Donnie cut himself off and lowered his voice, “You know how I felt about him in high school. Or did you forget?”
Mikey rolled his eyes, “No, I didn’t forget. How could I? You had a crush on him for years. Like, a talked-about-him-every-single-day type of crush.”
Donnie blushed hotly. “That was uncalled for.”
“Hey, you were the one who brought it up. Besides, that was years ago. And you told me you were over him when you graduated. Why would it be a problem?” Mikey’s eyes narrowed suddenly, “Unless you—”
“No, no, it’s not that, not at all,” Donnie cut him off before Mikey could do something ridiculous like insinuate that Donnie still had feelings for his silly high school crush, “But I would have appreciated a warning at least! And you told him I was going to be here. Why didn’t you tell me to expect him?”
“…what?”
Donnie scowled. “Don’t play dumb. He greeted me by name! The last time we talked was… I don’t even remember when, because it was back in high school!” It had been during sixth period biology of Donnie’s senior year, but Mikey didn’t need to know that he actually did remember. “He wouldn’t have recognized me if you hadn’t told him.”
Mikey blinked at him. “I didn’t.”
“Please, Mikey, it’s so obvious you—”
“I promise I didn’t,” Mikey made a complicated gesture with his hands that ended with him linking his pinkie with Don’s own, “I told I had an acting consultant that would arrive today, but I didn’t say it was you.”
Donnie’s sour expression dropped. “Are you sure?”
“’Course I am. I even pinkie promised.”
“But then why would he—?”
“Hey you two. Break’s almost— Whoa, is everything okay?”
The two brothers spun around. There, standing in the doorway between the atrium and the auditorium, was the very turtle they had been talking about. He was right beneath the mistletoe that Mikey had caught him under earlier, Donnie’s brain helpfully pointed out, and any words he was about to say in reply died on his tongue.
Lucky for him, Mikey stepped up. “Hey, Leo. Everything’s fine, why?”
“Are you sure everything’s okay? You guys sounded like you were talking about something serious,” Leo informed them, striding towards them as he spoke.
The mounting panic as Leo drew closer gave Donnie the strength to speak, “Oh, that! We were just… uh, just…”
He trailed off as Leo came closer. He hadn’t realized how much the stage lights had washed out the color of Leo’s skin and face. Here in the more natural light of the atrium, the vibrant green of his scales and red of the crescent shaped markings on his face practically glowed.
Donnie was once again rendered speechless, and Mikey once again came to his rescue, “We were just talking about our annual Jupiter Jim marathon!”
“We were?”
“You were?” Leo’s face lit up, “I love those movies!”
“Yeah! Aren’t they the best? Well, other than the Lou Jitsu movies, of course,” Mikey went on enthusiastically, “Anyways, every year before Christmas, we have a night where we watch all the Jupiter Jim holiday specials, and we always argue over the correct order to watch them in. Like do you go in chronological order or the order of release? Donnie says they were meant to be watched in order of release but I say—”
“I think he gets it, Mike,” Donnie interrupted him. He gave Leo an apologetic look, “Sorry about that. I guess we’re a little old to be watching a bunch of children’s movies every year.”
But Leo shook his head, “Don’t apologize! That’s such a fun tradition to have. My brother and I used to do something similar before…” he trailed off, then cleared his throat before continuing, “Well, it’s been a while since we’ve done something like that.”
Donnie wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but before an awkward silence could stretch out for too long, Mikey chimed in again.
“Hey, Leo, what are you doing tomorrow night? Any plans?”
Leo looked at him with narrowed eyes, “That depends. Why?”
“If you’re free, why don’t you join us for movie night?”
Donnie’s jaw dropped. There was no way Mikey was…
“That would be cool,” Leo’s smile was back, but there was an edge to it that Donnie hadn’t seen before, “But are you sure you’d want someone else there? I wouldn’t want to interrupt a brother thing for you two.”
“We don’t mind at all! The more the merrier, right?” Mikey waved off his concern. It did not escape Donnie’s notice that he had spoken for both of them. “Come by our apartment tomorrow at… let’s say seven?”
“Works for me.”
“Great! It’s a date, then,” Mikey beamed at him and shot the still-speechless Donnie a wink, “I’ll text you the address. Can’t wait!”
“Yeah,” Donnie held his brother’s eyes with a look that promised death, “Can’t wait.”