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Stargazer's Club

Summary:

When a young Donnie and April both sneak into a space museum on the same night, they both had very different expectations. Specifically the expectation of being alone in the building. And that expectation quickly ends when the two run into each other, meeting for the very first time. April, disappointed after being stuck with the teacher for her field trip decided to stick around and check out the museum alone, while Donnie sneaks away from the lair to check out the planetarium after Splinter refuses to let him go.

As a storm rages outside, the two kids get to know each other as they explore the building together and have fun. But meanwhile, beneath the museum, the tunnels begin to flood from the rain.

Notes:

Hey everyone!

So this is the first fic I've written for rottmnt and my first fic on ao3, and I decided to start off with an idea I've had for a while now of Donnie and April's first meeting.
This is mostly just fluff and a cute meeting between the two since I think their friendship is really sweet and deserves a cute beginning as well. I'm honestly much more prone to write angst, but I decided to give this story a go!
This is going to be an ongoing fic since I don't have the stamina to write the full thing in one go (unfortunately), but I will do my best to update regularly!

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

“Jeez, this place is a mess, Don! How long has it been since you cleaned out your lab?” April asked, staring at the strewn-out mess of boxes and junk that were piled around the room.

“Far too long April, which is why I called upon your assistance. I need help sorting through this. Most of this stuff is mine, but a certain brother of mine likes to also stash his things in here who will not be named,” Donatello looked up from the box he had been sorting, picking up a bunch of bits and pieces of metal and dumping them into a separate box. His shell’s metal appendages were also sorting separately, making quick work of the boxes of spare tech. “It’s Mikey. Anyway if you see anything with paint stains you can just toss it out into the lair.”

April sighed, putting a hand on her hip. “As much as I would love to help you rummage through trash all day, can’t you get one of your brothers or Shelldon to help with all this mess? It’s a Saturday- and when you texted me ‘Help.’ half an hour ago I thought there was some kind of emergency. Not that this train wreck of a room couldn’t be classified as one.” She said, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers as she read the text.

“Unfortunately my brothers were unwilling to participate in this particular…bonding exercise. Raph and Leo are out all day on some errand for Splinter. I’d get Mikey to help, but he’d make more of a mess in all honestly. And Shelldon caught a bug from a sketchy site and has been glitching all day, so he’s on sleep mode while his system reboots. You are my last bastion of hope, my friend,” the turtle explained.

“Uuhhg fine! But you better order pizzas, and I get primary jurisdiction over the music. Where do you need me?” April relented. So much for a free Saturday.

“Fair enough. I’m working through these parts of old tech to see what's salvageable or not, but why don’t you start with the closet? I have a few old boxes in there that haven’t seen the light of fluorescent bulbs in years that can probably get tossed out. Stuff that’s garbage can go in that pile, and I’ll haul it to the tank to dump later. Repo mantis loves free stuff anyway.” Donnie pointed over to a pile by the entrance with one of the mechanical appendages protruding from the battle shell, engrossed in his sorting with his own hands.

 

“Hey Donnie, check this out!” April called out. Donnie looked up, turning his gaze to April, who held up a cardboard shoebox above her head. Scribbled in messy writing was the word “KeEpsakes”, with the second E in the word capitalized.

“I don’t remember that being there. Where did you find it?” Donnie asked, making his way over to April with a look of curiosity.

“It was hiding under the metal plating in the closet. Looks like whoever hid this didn’t want anyone finding it. I only found it because I dropped my phone through the crack and tried to tear up your floor to get it. It was already loose, not that it would have stopped me if it wasn’t.” she said, lowering the box down to her chest. She blew on the lid of the box, a cloud of dust coming off the cardboard.

“I don’t doubt that for a second. Let me see it.” Donatello said, trying to grab the box from April's hands, only for her to swipe it away.
“Nuh-uh! I found it, that means I get to open it. Those are the rules!”
“What rules? You just made that up. There were no rules established!” Donnie kept trying to grab the box a few more times, April dodging his grasping hands.

“Hey!” April protested as Donnie finally managed to snatch the box from her hands, feigning one direction only to grab in the other. “Give it back!”

“Not that I don’t trust you April, but I’d like to see what’s in the box just at much as you. But I don’t remember what’s in here! Perhaps it was so terrible I had to erase my own memories and stash it somewhere no one would find it!”

“Donnie, I doubt that. Plus if it is terrible, I can beat it up for you!” April offered with a grin, smacking her fist into her palm enthusiastically. “And if you don’t let me see what’s in there after I’ve been helping you clean, your floor isn’t the only thing that’s gonna be torn up.”

“Fine, fine. Very well. If it’s something embarrassing, I’m inventing a memory eraser explicitly for the purpose of making you forget about it. I might have made one before but…I probably wouldn’t remember it. Oh, whatever here.” Donnie handed the box back to April, which she eagerly took and pried the cardboard lid from the top. Donnie peeked over her shoulder as she did so, eyeing the box with suspicion.

 

Inside the box were a few different slips of colored paper, a plastic model of Saturn, a scrunchie, and what looked to be a broken flashlight as well as a few colorful dinosaur toys. The box smelled of dust and like old books. It clearly hadn’t been opened in years. The papers, some of which seemed to be folded construction paper, were slightly faded but well preserved. It didn’t seem like there was anything mindblowing inside it after all.

“Aw, man. It’s just a bunch of junk! You got me all excited and everything.” April playfully shoved the box back at Donnie, an amused look on her face. “I was all ready for it to be something important, huh Don? …Don?”

Donatello was looking down into the box with a strange look as his face suddenly lit up and he turned to face April again, eyes bright.

“Recognition! This stuff IS important. Do you realize what all this, April?” he asked, holing up a slip of paper from the box and offering it to her. It was a blue folded pamphlet of some kind. On a second glance, April did indeed recognize it. She quickly grabbed the pamphlet from the turtle, staring down at the writing.

“That’s from the planetarium! No way! Is this-?” April looked back down into the box in Donnie’s hands, picking up the scrunchie with her free hand with a look of excited bewilderment. “This is mine! Is this from that night? I think you’re right! This is all stuff from the planetarium, from the night we met- all those years ago.”

“Man, how old were we? It’s no wonder I forgot about this thing.” Donnie tried to remember frustratedly, his drawn-on brows furrowing over his mask. “And what was it we called ourselves again? It’s on the tip of my tongue I just know it.”
“I can’t remember exactly, just give me a minute Don. I just can’t believe you kept all this!”