Hanging out with Donatello and his brothers wasn’t always fun and games.  There was a certain risk to being associated with the turtles; one that Dani knew too well.  In addition to petty crime and street thugs, New York City had to deal with the wicked Foot Clan.  Dani herself didn’t know much of what they did, other than the fact that they ninja assassins with their hands in the pockets of the criminal underworld… and that she needed to stay the hell out of their way.  She usually wasn’t around when they had run-ins; she just heard the play by plays of the epic fights from the guys when she happened to visit next.  But this evening, she was not so lucky.

Dani watched everything go down from the safety of the van, totally ready to deploy a missile if any of those ninjas got too close for comfort.  No one seemed to pay her shelter any mind though, so she was able to watch the battle play out.  She had seen the turtles spar in their lair, so she knew what they were capable of, but seeing their skills when they weren’t holding back was something else entirely.  Action movies had nothing on the sick choreography of Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo’s fluid teamwork as they devastated a group of assailants that outnumbered them in droves.

Their mastery of their weapons left her a little breathless, if she was being honest.  She might have been a teensy bit biased, but goddamn, her boy could work a bō staff.  While it might not have been as flashy as Leonardo’s katanas, seeing something so seemingly simple as a stick being turned into a weapon of mass destruction in skilled hands like Donnie’s was a sight to behold.  He was twisting and turning, knocking Foot soldiers down like bowling pins.  Each swing of his staff was precise, and the control he had over it made it as effective as an extension of his limbs.  It was exhilarating to witness, and she had to remind herself that she needed to be keeping an eye on her surroundings, not her beau’s bō.

Soon enough, the ninjas retreated once they realized they stood no chance and scampered back from whence they came.  The four turtles returned to the van, exhausted and full of adrenaline.

“You okay?” Donatello asked her the moment he was inside.  She nodded, finding irony in the fact that he was worried about her when she wasn’t involved at all.

“I’d say she’s fine.  Didn’t have to lift a finger and got a free show,” Raphael replied, nudging her with his elbow.  She shook her head, knowing he caught her blush.

“And she was in here with all the pizza!” Mikey said, lifting the lid on one of the pizza boxes, only for Donatello to shut with his staff from the driver’s seat.  “Hey!”

As Mikey scoffed and looked with pleading eyes at Donnie, the others couldn’t help but snort at the stealthy move.

“You know the rules, Mikey,” Leonardo spoke up.  “No eating in the van after last time.”

“Aw, not even a slice?” he asked.  “I said I was sorry!  C’mon, I was busting my tail out there!  I worked up an appetite!”

As Leo handled Mikey, Donnie sat his staff down between he and Dani to put the van into gear.  Suddenly, that stick looked a whole lot more interesting than any of the fancy buttons and gadgets on the dashboard in front of her.  She noticed this wasn’t the one he usually used.  Typically, he had a spring-loaded retractable one.  This one was a simple wooden one.

“Where’s the other one?” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Donatello looked over after the words left her mouth,then at the staff between them.

“I was doing some upgrades on it, but I hadn’t finished by the time you were ready to be picked up,” he said.  “Just grabbed that one on the way out.”

She nodded, subtly reaching over to stroke the wood with the side of her finger.  It was smooth.  To think, just a plain stick of wood could be that powerful… Or alluring.

💚💜💚

After dinner, Dani slipped away with Donatello to his lab, as she often did.  She sat in his makeshift chair, swiveling back and forth as she watched him continue making adjustments to his other bō staff.  The one from earlier leaned against the wall, and for some reason, she was completely fixated on it this evening.  While he was busy, she got up, walking over to the wooden staff.  Her fingertips traced the grain of the wood, smoothing down the side before she picked it up.  Once in her hands, she looked it over, admiring the craftsmanship and weighting it in her palms

“Careful with that,” he said without looking up.  She smirked and shook her head, knowing that was his default response to anyone touching anything of his, likely conditioned after his brothers broke one too many of his things.

“Hey.”

That one word from her got his attention.  He looked up, pushing his goggles back and putting his glasses on.  “Yeah?”

“Like, how do you use this?” she asked.  “You’re so… good at it.”

Donnie blushed, putting down his tools to meet her where she stood.  He walked behind her, grabbing the staff on either side.  The hair on the back of her neck stood up from how close he was to her now.

“Hands here and here.  Like this,” he said, instructing her to move her hands to match his.  Her hands rested about a third of the way from the ends with one palm up and one down.  Once her hands were in position, he removed his and brought them to her hips to correct her stance.  “Front knee bent.  Back leg straight.  All toes facing forward.  Use the front hand to guide the staff, and the back hand to pull it.”

He had to know what he was doing to her.  Using that soft, calm voice with her was making her weak at the knees.  She followed his lead, but it felt so wrong for it to be in her hands.  She looked over her shoulder up at him.

“… Can I see you do it?”

He chuckled, nodding and taking it from her.  He got into the stance that she’d seen him get into countless times at this point, but never once stopped to appreciate it.  With the tip of the staff pointed at her, her instincts overwrote her reason.  She pressed a kiss to the end of it, letting her lips linger as his eyes widened behind his lenses.  The tip of her tongue then darted out, flicking against the wood.  It wasn’t the most pleasant of tastes, but she kept a straight face, even as he snorted.

“Seriously?” he asked, pulling it back and leaning on it.  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were getting off to this old thing.”

“Maybe I am,” she said, stepping forward to run her fingers along the length of it again.  Her hand met his and curled around it.  “You’re just so… elegant with it.”

Her wording made him laugh, even if her touch made him shudder.

“I-It’s not a toy, Dani,” he reminded her.

“Doesn’t have to be,” she said.  “The fact that it isn’t makes it that much more… taboo, doesn’t it?”

“Just so we’re clear…”  Donatello leaned in, making sure her eyes didn’t stray from his.  He glanced at the door briefly before lowering his voice.  “I am not sticking that in you.”

Dani tried to pout at this, but it only made her crack up.  That was valid.  Not only was it just as much equipment to him as any of his tools, who knew where the hell that thing had been?  Still, she wanted to see how far she could push him with this.

“Okay, but could you make me a ‘special’ one?” she asked, eyes flicking over to the one on the table.  Even if he wanted to say no, the grin on his face contradicted him.  She knew how to get him with his first love.  He rarely ever passed up a challenge to invent something.  He sighed, knowing he had been bested.

“… Perhaps.”