#labs+

[ID: a digital portrait of a grey dog with floppy ears facing to the right. he is wreathed in a border of twigs and dry grasses on a light green background. end]

Crash Subroutine.

Donnie x Reader confession scene- you are in the lab and get hurt. With your newfound crush on the turtle and emotions already sky high everything hits the metaphorical fan!

This is my first X reader, so let me know what you think!

The lab settled in with that quiet that it always did when you were with Donnie. School was out, so you had an abundance of free time on your hands. Without the mounting pressure that classes brought, you found yourself visiting the lair frequently.

At first, it was for Mikey's routine summer movie nights, then it turned into game nights. Until eventually, you began visiting nearly every day.  Sure, you visited during the school year, though it was mainly for “Donnie’s tutoring sessions” that always somehow ended up in some part of the lab exploding.

Truth is, you and the purple-clad turtle had always been somewhat close.  Your first memories of Donnie are fuzzy. The purple dragons had mugged you in Chinatown while walking home one night. Needless to say, they knocked your lights out, and you woke up in another alleyway to Donnie checking your vitals. You faintly remember some sort of arguing from his brothers in the background.

You were pulled from your thoughts when a distinct sound of metal hitting concrete rang through the air. Today you were helping Donnie in the lab. Truth is, both of you and he had been pretty excited about the aspect of hanging out more since school was out. You had always enjoyed your time with Donnie, but lately? You found yourself eager to see him yet nervous when you arrived. You hadn’t even realized you liked him until one night he hugged you goodbye. Your heart racing told you everything you needed to know, and since then you’ve been extra nervous around him, though you tried your best to hide it.

“Remind me to make a screwdriver that has a better handle on it. You’d think with these hands I'd have more of a grip on this thing.”  Donnie scooted out from underneath the worn-down vehicle he was working on.

“Admit it, you just have butterfingers,” you said, leaning against the car as you hid the growing smirk on your face.

Using a nearby cloth to wipe his oil-stained hands, Donnie sat up and rolled his eyes playfully. “Ha-ha very original. Remind me to install a laugh track in here; you should be a comedian.”

You took a mock bow before spinning on your heels to Donnie’s to-do list near his computer. Adding what you needed to, you tuned to see Donnie walking over to his computer.

“Just giving the people what they want.” You said, giving a cheeky grin.

You saw him type a couple of notes into his computer before he gave a sigh, seemingly trying to recount something from memory before typing again. The motion repeated several times before he eyed you knowingly. His gaze landed on you, and you felt your heart begin to race.  He stared at you a moment longer before remembering what he needed to and began typing again.

Truth is, you loved what you and Donnie had. It felt safe. It even felt secure up until you realized you had feelings for him. Now everything felt a little strange. You were fine talking to him from a distance, but when he got up close like this, your nerves made themselves apparent.

You had never planned on telling Donnie how you were feeling because the idea of being with someone like him seemed so out of reach for a girl like you. Being in his presence was simply enough for you. You loved your late-night talks and banter; heck, even listening to him spout scientific nonsense has now become your favorite pastime. Adding your feelings to the mix seemed like they would only jeopardize the friendship the two of you had.

Looking away, shaking off your nerves, you grabbed one of his old fidgets on his desk. Donnie seemed to notice the change in atmosphere and paused his typing to look over at you.

“Hey Y/N, everything okay? You seem more in your head today,” he gave a puff of laughter and a small smile before adding, “I know, ironic coming from me.”

You brought the fidget to your chest, giving it a small squeeze. You cursed his intuition. You loved his beautiful brain, but you sure did curse it in moments like this. You felt him eyeing you and took a small step back, giving a strained laugh.

“Yup, all good over here.”

You said that way to fast.

He knew.

You knew.

You both knew.

He evaded his computer now giving you his full attention. You could feel his eyes begin to watch every micro expression you had for some sort of answer. The thought only made your heart beat faster. You backed up some before avoiding farther eye contact.

“h-hey didn’t you say you needed more of that bonding agent- uh..ya know” you stumbled backwards over to a shelf loaded with different variations and varieties of chemicals.

“Phosphoric acid?” Donnie crossed his arms walking closer to you and the shelf clearly concerned.

“yeah that!” you scrambled hoping the words came out naturally. They didn’t.

“Y/n what’s going on…?”

By the time Donnie made it halfway to the shelf you grabbed the wooden step stool and began to climb it pretending to look through the many multicolored vials in an attempt to evade the conversation. Your heart rate was already sky high.  Scenarios of what would happen if you told him began running through your mind, all leading to some sort of disaster.

Before you could be dragged out of your thoughts a glowing vile began to teetering on the edge of the shelf. Scrambling to catch it the stool began to wobble.  You grabbed the vile just in time but not before the glass shattered cutting your hand along with the acidic chemical. Your legs were swept out beneath you when the old stool gave way. You closed your eyes to brace for impact but the ground never came. The only thing you registered was soft, firm, strong hands along with a now burning sensation in the palm of your hand.

Opening your eyes you found Donnie on his knees with you sitting on top of them with his arms wrapped protectively around you. You could feel his heart hammering through his plastron right along with yours. You both took a moment to stare at each other. Processing. Donnie looked at you something in his eye you couldn’t quite catch before everything you had done up till this point sped up to you in time:

He asked if you were okay.

You lied.

You avoided.

You ended up getting hurt.

The foolishness of it all caused you to reel. You were mortified and now you look like an absolute fool.

“Don-“

“Let’s get you cleaned up...this looks bad...can you stand?”

You gave a small nod. Your ego was hurt more than anything else and now you can’t even read his expression.

Donnie helped you to your feet carefully, one arm around your waist like he didn’t trust your legs to hold you up. Worried the ground would take you out a second time, Donnie’s other hand hovered near yours almost afraid of touching the wound directly. Afraid of hurting you.

You almost stumbled not from pain but lack of coordination. Tonight, had gone so wrong.

“Woah- easy” Donnie’s voice came out soft. Not the same sarcastic turtle from before but more...vulnerable. worried.

“I’m fine.” You muttered.  Cradling your hand to your chest. You felt so ashamed.

“You are objectively not fine. You literally have cut on your hand and possibly a chemical burn.” You couldn’t see his expression as he looked away, likely scanning the room for things he needed. Already in doctor mode.

You could only give a weak laugh as a response. Your foolishness knew no bounds.

Donnie guided you toward the lab sink, movements quick but careful. He turned the water on immediately, gently pulling your injured hand beneath the stream. The cold water stung and your jaw clenched as you drew a breath,

“Sorry— sorry, I know,” he said quickly. “I need to flush it before it worsens.”

You nodded silently, watching him instead of your hand. He looked stressed. Worried.

Not his normal stress where he rants about Mikey rummaging through his lab equipment or Raph breaking one of his mini bug spies. This was different. He was working fast cleaning your wound. Impossibly gentle. Yet trembling at the same time. He finished rinsing your hand and began searching through his lower cabinets labeled and filled with medical supplies.

You felt bad.

“Donnie...I’m okay you don’t have to panic” the words came out quieter than you wanted.

“I’m not panicking.” Oh, he was absolutely panicking

He grabbed some burn cream and gauze before crouching in front of you. The closeness made your stomach flip. Donnie carefully lifted your hand, looking for any abnormalities.

“…you should have asked for help...that stools been unstable for weeks…I should have replaced it...”

“it’s not your fault...it’s mine”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not responsible”

Why. Why did he always do that? He always put so much weight on himself. Even if he wasn’t in the wrong. The thought made your eyes burn. You stared at him longer that you thought noticing how gentle he was being as he bandaged you up. Every touch left you feeling reassured. Your chest tightened. This was exactly why you fell for him in the first place.

Not because he was smart. Though you loved his beautiful mind. Not because of his work though you always found yourself staring. It was this. He cared so deeply that it practically destroyed him. He always noticed things. Even the small things. He made you feel safe. Always. You hadn’t realized the tears forming in your eyes.

“Does it hurt...did I hurt you?”

You shook your head tears streaming. You felt horrible.

“Yes-no-but that’s not- “

You looked away, laughing once under your breath in disbelief. “This is so humiliating.”

“What is?”

“All of it.”

Donnie frowned slightly. “Y/n—”

“I just-“you had to stop yourself squeezing your eyes shut. “This wasn’t supposed to happen like this”

You could practically feel him pulling apart and analyzing every word.

“…Like what?” he asked carefully.

Your chest tightened so hard it hurt. You need to stop talking. You should stop talking like right now. But you couldn’t stop yourself. Not with all the past weeks of  emotions had been building. Not when he was sitting here patiently holding your hand like you mattered.

“I didn’t want you finding out like this,” you whispered.

“Finding out what?”

You laughed shakily, tears finally slipping free. “That I’m completely in love with you, okay?”

You were met with immediate silence. Like you swear Donnie short-circuited.  It swallowed you whole and your stomach tightened.

“OH MY GOSH” “forget I said anything” you whispered mortified covering your face with your hand.  

“Y/n.”

You couldn’t look at him.

“I know it’s stupid,” you rushed out. “I know you probably don’t see me like that and I didn’t want to ruin things between us because you’re my best friend and—” the words just came out faster and faster.

“Y/n.”

His voice was louder this time but with no anger attached. You slowly met his eyes. Terrified. You nearly lost your ability to breathe. Donnie was staring at you like you had said the most unbelievable thing.

“Do you honestly think,” he said slowly, “that I spend every waking moment with you because I merely tolerate your presence?”

“I— what?”

He began pacing the room dragging one hand down his face. “i-...wow...okay..I had an entire plan for this actually this is just unexpected”

“wait..a plan..?” you peeked through the hand covering your eye to stare at him.

“yes!..I had everything planned even a flow chart..gosh y/n…if only id seen it sooner..” you could see him mentally reeling. Now looking through his memories at every past interaction.

Despite everything you laughed through your tears.  It caused Donnie to be pulled from his thoughts to now openly stare at you. Slowly a warm smile spread across his face.

“that’s better..”

“what” you looked up at him.

Donnie stepped closer again. Slowly. Almost waiting for you to pull away and reject him. Had he prepared for rejection too? Gosh. You both were hopeless.

“I like you too” “actually to clarify I have liked you for an unfortunate amount of time...”

You swear all oxygen left your brain.

“you..do?” you had prepared for rejection for so long that the possibilities of him even liking you back seemed foreign. You couldn’t believe what was happening. The guy you had dreamed about. Finally. After so long. Likes you back. You had been so consumed by how you came off that you hadn’t even considered the possibility that he had been nervous this entire time as well. The thought made your heart skip a beat.

“obviously.”

“you are terrible at being obvious”

“you climbed a shelf to get away from your feelings we all have flaws.”

You laughed. There it was. You loved his humor.

“You scared me today,” he admitted quietly. The teasing vanished completely from his voice. Is face replaced an odd expression. One between sadness and fear

“When you fell I…” He swallowed. “I thought I was going to watch you get seriously hurt right in front of me.”

You looked away. Seeing him say it like this and care about you in this way made your throat tighten “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” He reached up and brushed his thumb under your eye catching a loose tear. “Just… maybe don’t almost die before confessing next time.”

The small chuckle that escaped you immediately brought a smile to his face. Like that alone was enough for him. Gosh you were finished for.