Learning Curves || Rise Donnie x Reader

⥢Seven⥤

When you woke up, Donnie's arm was still around your waist pulling you against his plastron. His purple mask was skewed on his face because he'd forgotten to take it off, and he still looked deep in the grasp of sleep. As you looked at how he cradled you close with his battleshell facing out as if to protect you—how he managed to sleep with it on was a mystery—you realized he cared a lot more than he let on. Either that or he constantly worried his teddy bear would be stolen at night.

Carefully, you slipped out of his arms and onto the floor. You put the rest of your clothes on and stepped into your shoes that you left over by his computer, glancing back at him to make sure he was still out cold. You would've been jealous of his blatant quality sleep if you didn't get an equally restful night thanks to him. You didn't realize you were smiling to yourself as you stepped out the door, making sure the door shut quietly behind you.

You turned around and froze. "Oh, hi Raph." You smiled awkwardly—like a teenager being caught by their parents—and he matched the look of a parent as he crossed his arms and looked down at you.

"We thought you went home last night," he said carefully, waiting for you to explain yourself. He really had the whole 'disciplining your child' thing down. You didn't like feeling guilty, but all he had to do was look at you and you immediately wanted to make him proud of you. That obviously had nothing to do with your daddy issues whatsoever.

"I was just helping Donnie sleep," you said honestly, running a hand through your hair. Technically you weren't lying—sleeping with someone does help you get better, more restful sleep. He stood a little taller, and you wilted almost instinctively. "I'm sorry."

"What do you mean? That's amazing!" His face broke out into a smile and he seemed downright proud. You blinked, dumbfounded. "Donnie refuses to sleep a lot, and it's taken us slipping some melatonin into his drinks to get him to finally go to bed." No wonder D slept like a rock—even with the battleshell on. Raph set his hand on your shoulder. "So thank you, (Y/n)." Your smile glowed.

"Really?" You leaned closer and he chuckled, patting your head.

"Really." Then his mouth turned into a stern line. "Don't play with his heart." You felt a sudden chill, and you nodded obediently. You weren't planning on it anyway, but especially now that this father figure had requested it, you weren't going to be caught dead hurting Donnie.

"You can trust me."

"Good." Then Raph smiled again, that same proud look in his black eyes. "You're a good person, (Y/n). I'm glad Donnie has you." And just like that, you would do anything to make him proud of you.

"I'll make you proud." You glanced down at your phone, and your eyes widened. "But I need to get to class, so I'll talk to you guys later." He nodded and led you back to the surface, the two of you talking casually the whole way. They were surprisingly easy to talk to, like they were made of pure friendship material despite living in a sewer and not really being part of society. But then good friends could come from anywhere, you supposed.

↭

The classes were boring as always, but right after you turned in the homework Donnie did for you, he sent you a text. It's like I summoned him, you thought with a small smile.

DONNIE🕺: You didn't hold up your end of our deal.

You stared at the phone screen with pure confusion. What was he talking about? And he didn't want to talk about the night you two shared together? You figured he'd want to talk about it, like a team huddle after a basketball game, or at the very least collect some data about the experience from your perspective. He was the dorky type, anyway.