𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚒𝚗'𝚝 𝚊 𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍.

Chapter VII

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐈𝐈

Reports
——————

"So?" April asked quietly her elbows placed on the kitchen table. "Did you find anything?"

Donnie looked around to make sure his brothers weren't listening in or even in the room.

"Well." He started shifting in his seat. "He really is odd, that's for sure."

"Explain."

Donnie gulped; getting nervous at how she said that one word.

"W-well." He began. "He might not be a Kranng." That alone got April to glair. "But! But, he might be dangerous in other ways; especially to himself." He mumbled the last part to himself before continuing. "I can still keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't do anything if you'd like."

"Don't bother, it's like you said; he's not Kranng." She got up from her chair and started heading to the entrance.

Donnie would have stopped her but decided against it, instead he got up and went to tinker in his lab to distract himself from previous and future problems.

When he sat at his desk he saw the book he's been writing notes in for just over two weeks, he opened the small purple journal and read threw all the notes he's written almost every night about the boy his girlfriend wanted him to follow.

Most of the notes were about his mannerisms, which were not great, or activities he'd participated in.

Donnie noticed a pattern in the human's behaviour, he's been getting worse and worse; not to mention he seems to live alone—except for the woman who shows up sometimes.

He remembers when he first brought his parabolic microphone to listen in to his voice and music, he'll never forget when he first heard James baby-talk his turtle while feeding it.

He burned threw over three pages of his notebook in one night when James decided to cook something; the music was loudly playing threw the small apartment and Donnie laughed at the crazy dances James did while waiting for the water to boil for the pasta, in the end the recipe failed which immediately effected the humans mood.

And the night when he heard James singing to a new song he didn't know the words to; he mostly just ticked down how many voice cracks he had let slip, from his surprisingly feminine singing voice, and how many times he restarted the song.

It was always fun to listen to and watch all the things the boy did; one night could just be him binging a show he had already watched three times that week and the next night could consist of James reorganizing the bookshelf in the living room.

Donnie couldn't see into the boy's bedroom due to the curtains always being closed since the first night, however, that didn't really matter to the turtle—most, if not all, of the important/entertaining things were done in the living room.

With a clap Donnie closed his journal and decided to continue visiting the human; as long as his brothers weren't getting suspicious of him it would be okay and now he didn't even have to report to April about it—this could be his thing from now on; hanging out with a human who does even know he exists.

—

And so when night hit he silently crossed the floor to the exit with his equipment under his arm in a duffel bag, the equipment consisted of his advanced parabolic microphone, a pair of binoculars as well as his computer.

"Where are you off to, my son?"

What a good question.

"Nowhere." That was clearly not the right answer.

Splinter gazed down at his son with a relaxed face but raised his eyebrows just slightly, Donatello knew he was busted and was fully prepared for a grounding or life story that was going to inevitably be a lesson about telling the truth or something.

"Okay." Splinter replied not even a sign of disappointment or anger present.

The turtle looked at his dad with widened eyes; and he wasn't going to question it and just continue on his way out of the lair but it just slipped out.

"What do you mean by 'okay'?" He asked, his head tilted.

"It is just as I said, you are free to keep secrets." Splinter looked at his son then stroked his beard. "I will know what you are hiding as soon as you are ready to share anyway."

He was right, Donnie couldn't keep this a secret for long—especially from his own father, so with reluctance he gave into the inevitable.

One night away couldn't hurt.

Splinter lead his son to his room to privately chat about what's been going on over tea, and as soon as the tea cup got placed in front of the younger mutant he spilled everything.

All his secrets that he had kept for the past few weeks, the fact that he knew it was wrong to literally be stalking a kid because his girlfriend thought it was necessary and the fact that he disregarded a direct order from his older brother and leader.

"And now I don't know what to do, I know I should stop watching him but I feel that if I do something bad will happen to him in someway." Donnie ranted not even picking up the tea his sensei gave him. "Not to mention April said I should and she's my girlfriend so I should listen to her, right?"

Splinter continued to stroke his beard as he silently listened to the boy.

"You are old enough to make your own decisions, Donatello." He stated lifting his own tea cup. "Tell me about this boy, help me understand why you think he is in trouble."

"I've just noticed his mental health rapidly declining and the fact that he's alone all the time doesn't help; I mean, there's a lady that checks on him sometimes but that's it." He started a rant again but took a breath before continuing.

"I don't think he has any friends to talk to, from what April's told me, he's distant to everyone in school; that includes teachers, and I want—no, I need to know why; I need to know if I can help him in someway—but I can't just go up to him and ask what he needs; he'd freak out."

"My son." Splinter started making the reptile pause his rant. "You are over thinking this."

Donnie lowered his head ashamed, of course he was over thinking things; he always over thinks everything.

"That is not a bad thing, however, you over look the simplest solutions when you dive in too deep." Donatello look up to his father confused. "Have you tried contacting him through your technology?"

That one question shattered Donnie's view on the subject, maybe even his views on life; never has his father, his sansei, asked if he tried using his tech to solve anything.

"I'll take your silence as a no." Splinter smiled in amusement and set his cup down.

"You're right, I haven't." He admitted and slouched in on himself, Splinter didn't have to be disappointed in him; he was already disappointed in himself. "You're always right."

"I know." Splinter said factually. "Now go, you still have a few hours of darkness and this boy may need your help."

With a nod Donnie picked his bag up and left the room intending to see the teen; but before he could even leave the lair he was stopped by his one and only younger brother.

"Where are you goin'?" Mikey asked laying upside down on the couch with a comic book in hand.

"Just out, I got something to do."