TMNT X Reader Oneshots Part 2

System Overload

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It was a quiet night at the lair, or at least it had been.

You’d come down into the lab to check on Donatello, as you usually did. Half because you liked watching him work, half because you knew he forgot to eat unless someone physically shoved a plate at him.

And okay—maybe there was a third reason, the real reason—you liked him. Like, liked him liked him. With his too-big brain, awkward charm, and that slightly unhinged sense of superiority that somehow made him more attractive. It was a problem.

Tonight, though, something strange was happening. Stranger than usual in Donnie’s lab, where plasma guns and killer drones were just ‘Tuesday.’

Donnie was acting weird.

Well. Weirder.

“—and if I realign the plasma converter with the right buffer modulation, I can amplify the resonance by—by at least—uh—”

He trailed off mid-rant, blinking at you like you’d just hit him with a blunt object. His cheeks were flushed—a deep, almost comical shade of magenta against his usual green skin. His lips parted like he wanted to speak, but nothing came out.

You tilted your head. “Donnie…? You okay?”

“F—fine! Fine, fine,” he spluttered, adjusting his battle shell like it was suddenly too tight. “I-I—am—optimum functioning capacity. Yep. Operational. Good. Perfect.”

…That was not the usual Techno-Babble™ you were used to.

From the other side of the lab, you heard something.

A snicker.

You glanced over.

April.

She was standing by the doorway with her phone up, clearly recording, clearly thrilled with whatever awkward meltdown Donnie was having.

“April,” you stage-whispered. “What is going on?”

Her only reply was to cover her mouth with her hand and giggle harder.

Then Raph wandered in, curious, his massive shoulders barely fitting through the doorway.

He looked between you and Donnie, took one glance at Donnie’s wrecked entire existence, and immediately had to turn around so you wouldn’t see the grin splitting across his face.

Even Leo popped his head in, leaning against the frame like the absolute chaos goblin he was. “Ooooohhh,” he sing-songed, eyes gleaming. “It’s happening again.”

What was happening again?

Donnie, for his part, was busy glitching. That was really the only way to describe it. Hands twitching, face flushed, mouth opening, no words emerging. You half-expected sparks to start coming out of his ears.

Finally, finally, you said: “Did I do something? I just—I was just saying you did a good job—”

And that’s when Donnie made a sound like someone stepping on a cat and fully turned away from you, fiddling furiously with his gauntlet.

“D-Donnie?”

“NOPE. Busy. So busy. Projects. Machines. Lasers. Dangerous equipment. Do not engage. Hazard zone. Sparks flying. Might explode. Could combust. DO NOT look at me—”

April wheezed audibly behind you.

“What is going on?!” you half-laughed, exasperated and confused and more than a little amused now yourself.