ONE YEAR OF "AND THEY WERE LAB PARTNERS" ✨✨✨
Thank you to everyone who participated in the one year anniversary poll!! I still maintain that it would be funny as /fuck/ to just delete “And They Were Lab Partners” in a memento mori fashion, but alas; Only one person voted for it.
Cowards /j
In any case, the majority voted for the behind the scenes stuff, so here we are! The tidbits of how ATWLP turned into the fucking beast it is.
I would like to personally blame @morning-sun-brah , @hitechlatte, and @ordin-arily for being such big inspirations in this corner of the fandom. You guys are amazing and I probably wouldn't be where I am today without your works.
Shout out to all my losers in the backrooms for keeping me going and being such terrible influences. You are all responsible for the horrors that have been unleashed. A solid third of my content exists because of your sins /aff.
@beckerboopin is the best beta anyone could ask for and has only brought this story up to the next level. I would die for you becks <3
Also @betyoudidntcthatcoming-blog is the love of my life that I only met ‘cause of this fic or whatever. They’re pretty neat. I guess. :p
ANYWAYS, /CONTENT/
(Major Spoilers Ahead Pre-Chapter 23)
—
I would like to remind everyone that ATWLP was only supposed to be 50k words. You can still witness my naivety in the notes of “Pudge ‘Preciation.”
How… simple those times were.
How I so firmly believed the idiots would be kissing by chapter 16. How a projected word count of 150k words seemed unfathomable for a single work, much less a work with multiple published and planned companion pieces.
Crazy. (I was crazy once.)
There was a lot of ATWLP that ended up getting scrapped as I got further into the story. The idiots had a lot of opinions and tugged at me a few different ways as I got to know them better. (aka they wouldn’t listen to me when I told them to fucking kiss already.)
Anyways, some of the few major structural changes:
Casey was originally supposed to reveal that he knew Sweet’s in the bad timeline during the “Intro to Sparring” chapter. That chapter was also originally slotted to happen /before/ the kidnapping debacle, but it just so happened to fit in better later
The stage kiss from “Hit the Club” was going to be in the Nerd Prom chapter. It felt too corny at the time (and lowkey still feels corny) so I put that in my pocket for later. For as much as y’all yelled at me for it, it barely made the final cut lmao.
The way the idiots are going to confess to each other is a COMPLETE 180 from how I planned the story from the beginning, which was already entirely different from the first idea for this fic. I wrote a whole ass chapter about an accidental kiss being the tipping point of them positively macking on each other, which I did end up cutting into convenient pieces for other stuff. (I PUT A PART OF IT DOWN BELOW)
Sweets was going to be kidnapped twice and the whole Purple Dragons debacle was going to be drawn out more. There was a lot more action planned than slice of life content at ATWLP’s conception. For better or for worse, this is where the story led us.
Donnie’s mating season wasn’t going to be as involved in the story, if in it at all. I grew to be hornier and less ashamed. You’re welcome.
The first title for this fic was “Lab Rat: a Story of Nerds Falling in Love.” For the life of me I cannot remember what compelled me to change it, but holy shit am I glad I did.
I was going to use (y/n) in this fic. No hate to those who do, but stylistically I’m pretty happy with not doing that.
And because I have no control over the idiots, quick rundown of the chapters that weren’t supposed to happen.
Kart Conflict
The Christmas Issue
The Recovery: Day Two
Valentine’s Day Episode
Hit the Club
Aquarium? Hardly Know ‘Em
****Pool Excursion
****Beach Episodes
****honestly just like the entire endgame of this fic
All the ficlets/ alternate POV’s
All the smut! I still have it written down in my original notes that ATWLP was gonna be completely PG lmao. Once again y’all have @morning-sun-brah and her fucking fabulous fics to blame for that
The Valentines’ and aquarium chapters are COMPLETELY different than how I had originally planned, even with being forced to include them in my chart. The Valentine’s day plans that the brothers had “ditched” with Sweets was the og plot for the chapter. The aquarium chapter was supposed to be a rooftop picnic with feels~~, no aquarium even fucking mentioned in my outline.
I don’t have much control over what happens tbh. I am praying that the 37 planned chapters will be the final chapters.
We’ll…. we’ll just have to see how that turns out.
The scrapped plots as a little treat for y’all <3 ~~~
Cut Stage Kiss (after the lift in Nerd Prom)
You leaned closer to Donnie’s face, intent on screeching in his ear for pulling that stunt.
“Kiss them already!” May yelled from the inner edge of the crowd. You turned bright red, blinking at her. You shook your head at her, but the crowd started to catch onto the idea.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”
Donnie laughed, a little incredulous. He leaned in close to your ear, whispering, “Theatre kid protocol?”
You nodded in agreement, allowing him to put a hand to your face. He leans into your mouth, making the crowd go wild. You giggle against the thumb separating your lips, smiling against it. Donnie pulled away from you with a dramatic ‘mwah’. You threw your head back, fully laughing as Donnie lifted you up from the dip.
First Valentine’s Day Outline
The final four move to the living room
Sweets: “We’re making friendship bracelets while we watch the most romantic movie of all time.”
Raph: “Shrek 2!”
Donnie: “This is ridiculous”
Sweets: “This holiday is ridiculous, now pick out your five favourite colors of embroidery floss”
Donnie: “....Fine."
Donnie is actually terrible at making bracelets lmao while mikey has wristfuls of them
Donnie: “I don’t understand! I’m following the blueprints exactly!”
Mikey: “The... instructions?”
Donnie: “Whatever! How are you making those so fast? You don’t even have that many friends!”
Mikey: “Physical therapy is a hell of a time, my brother.”
Sweets: “Is Donnie being ableist again?”
Mikey: “I do believe he is.”
Donnie: “I am autistic!”
Sweets: “Bless you.”
ORIGINAL CONFESSION
And it all starts like most things in your life do: a silly mistake.
“Donnie,” you whined. You were working on your physics homework at his desk while he was soldering a new motherboard for the Turtle Tank’s controls.
“Little pest,” he mimicked your tone without looking up. He kept on soldering as you stared at him, not a care in the world.
“Would you be so kind as to look over my work for this problem? I’m following the steps but I’m not getting the right answer.”
“Mmm,” Donnie said. At that moment, a spark flew from his project and caught his exposed cheek. He flinched back, dropping his wire and soldering rod on the table and rubbing his face. You batted your eyes at him while he scowled.
“I don’t know how, but I blame you for that.”
“I would *never*,” you teased. You pushed your chair to the side a bit so Donnie could stand next to you.
He moved his goggles to his head and put his left arm over the back of your chair, leaning over you. He parsed through your work for a minute and tilted his head down to tell you what you needed to fix.
It just so happened that you tilted your head up to ask him a question at the same time, the two of you meeting in the middle with a kiss.
Well, it wasn’t so much of a kiss as it was the two of you accidentally brushing your lips together for a moment. Seconds, almost nothing at all.
But the way that Donnie looked at you when the two of you jumped apart…
That…that wasn’t nothing.
You could almost laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation. You could’ve cracked a joke, played up your ridiculous game of pet names and intellectual bravado.
(To be honest, you almost did.)
But then you thought about the way Donnie’s lips felt against yours. You thought about the way you’d dream of that moment and then proceed to do everything in your power to banish those thoughts away. Your mouth hung open slightly as you looked up at him, trying to will yourself to do anything, anything at all.
Donnie ended up making that decision for you. That oh, so familiar churring started emanating from his chest. He took your face in his hands, looking into your eyes for just a hint of confirmation before leaning in for a real kiss.
Oh.
*Oh*.
(Yeah, you could get used to this.)
There was nothing more you could do than press yourself against him, against his touch. You felt him smiling into the kiss, pressing you down into the chair.
Donnie was *everywhere*, like he was trying to encompass you. His hand moved to your hair, the other to your hip. You smiled when you remembered his adoration for your love-handles all that time ago. You traced along his plastron, making nonsense shapes and mapping out every scar.
He was so responsive. The chirring increased tenfold for every touch to his chest, every soft bite you gave his lips. You recalled all the times he would make noises from you touching along his shell. You pressed your hands fully against him, doing your best to draw out more and more of those sounds.
What Donnie lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. He followed your lead, matching your pace every step of the way. You licked along the seam of his lips, gasping as his mouth opened for you. Donnie’s tongue against yours was tentative, shy even. You did everything in your power to ease Donnie into deepening the kiss.
When he moved from your lips and started kissing down your throat, your soul could have left your body right there. He was so…*gentle*.
Donnie always has been. From when he was slinging his arms around you to kicking your ass in sparring, Donnie has never failed to treat you with care and reverence.
You feel it now, with every soft bite he gives you, every gentle peck behind your ear.
Donnie pulled away from you after what felt like decades. (Never enough, it would never be enough.) You leaned forward after him, trying to close the space he was creating. He looked bashful.
“This might be the proper time to tell you that I have a massive crush on you,” Donnie said. His face was fraught with nervous determination.
“Yeah, no fucking shit,” you said. You stood up from the chair and used your body to push Donnie against the desk. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to your height.
“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for forever, can we get on with it?” you said, looking into his eyes. Donnie turned bright red.
“But– you? Do you?” Donnie stammered a bit.
“Donnie,” you deadpanned, crowding into his space, “I’ve had a crush on you for a year, thanks for noticing. Will you *please* lean your face down a bit so I can reach it?”
Donnie looked at you a bit incredulously, like you were a problem he didn’t know how to solve yet. He made quite a picture, all red faced and calculating with a dumb half-smile while he looked at you. But, giving in, he put his arms around you and leaned in to kiss you again.
“Aye, aye, captain.”
You smiled into the kiss, humming with contentment.
He likes you.
He likes you.
—
Aaaaand some random headcanons because I love you guys and I am truly so thankful to this kickass community <3 I truly do not know where I would be without the support y’all have given me.
Donnie has a hella oral fixation
NOT IN A KINKY WAY (most of the time) But as an autist, Donnie do be biting
One of his biggest shows of trust if he bites you while just chilling
Like if donnie is big spoon, he just nom on a shoulder and stay there chillin
Or if reader is body pillow, he’ll lean around and bite their bicep
Good sensations
Donnie draws on eyebrows every day, he for sure would be very good at doing intricate makeup on reader
Gently holds their chin up, concentrated as hell while reader blushes like mad
Donnie keeps getting banned off of roblox
Didn’t matter tbh, he knew how to hack into it to get his account reinstated
Also makes money off of roblox??
never explains to Sweets, very suspicious
Sweets likes to kiss along donnie’s neck/where his battle shell usually sits
The word here is reverence
Donnie is egotistical, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have insecurities about being a mutant turtle and you being a human
Lots of tracing along his arms, his face, his shell
Donnie likes his coffee to be half coffee, half milk to cut down on bitterness. Sweets is a tea drinker normally, but opts for coffee when they can’t focus (which ends up being most of the semester).
Sweets drinks black coffee when they’re on the struggle bus
To quote them, “Black coffee can’t hurt me more than Calc II already has”
But they prefer two creamers and two sugars when they have it in their dorm.
That’s all, congrats on making it to the bottom of this long ass post lmao <3
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DONNIES POV OF THE LATEST CHAPTER... PRETTY PLEASE? 🥺
you've caught me in an amenable mood, sure!
Here's a Donnie POV from the very end of chapter 24 <3
(it's v unedited, apologies)
---
"Wow," April said as she leaned on the counter next to Donnie, "They're really out cold."
Donnie snorted and continued his task of gathering up the empty bottles around the bar.
(He liked to repurpose glass when he could. The more time he spent re-shaping it into his desired purposes it was less time he had to keep depending on subpar tech companies.)
"Just wait until you put a movie on in front of Sweets," Donnie retorted, "I've never seen someone pass out so quickly."
April hummed, gathering up bottles in her own bag, "Should we wake them up and send them home? I bet Leo would make an extra pit stop for them.
"Uh," Donnie said, tilting his head in confusion, "They're spending the night."
"You're not making them sleep on the couch, Donnie."
"I am not making them sleep on the couch, April."
"Sunny and I are taking the spare bed."
"Yes."
"The Casey's have already claimed the cots in the med bay."
"Correct again," Donnie said stiffly, a faint blush rising on his cheeks, "We... Sweets and I usually share my bed."
"Ohhh," April said, trailing off, "Okay. I see."
"There's nothing to see," Donnie argued, "It's simply the most sensible and economical solution. It would be a waste of resources to keep a spare bed fresh and clean with the frequency of Sweet's visits."
"I'm sure."
"Good," Donnie said with a huff, his gaze falling back on you. Your chest rose and fell softly as you slept. Your hand rested against your forehead and twitched as the breeze started to pick up.
It was getting colder again. Truly unprecedented weather patterns this year. If Donnie was a betting man, he would expect snow again before May.
(The month, not Sweet's roommate.)
(Duh, Donatello.)
"I think that's the last of the bags," Raph said, popping his head out of the portal Leo was maintaining just to the side of the pool, "You guys need anything?"
"Wanna get sleepyhead inside?" April said, jerking her head in your direction, "I'm worried about them catching a cold."
"No," Donnie said quickly, practically on instinct.
April raised an eyebrow at Donnie. Her eyes glimmered with satisfaction for just a moment as she schooled her face back to a neutral expression.
Donnie didn't have the energy for her presumptions right now. Not after the last few weeks.
"Raph, do you mind finishing up the bottles for me?" Donnie asked. He already tossed his bag over to Raph before he got an answer and was quickly approaching your side.
You scrunched your face up as Donnie gently raised your head off the chair and managed to settle your torso against his. You were solidly snoozing again with your face pressed against Donnie's neck by the time he managed to slide an arm under your legs.
Donnie pointedly did not look at April and Raph as he stepped through the portal and avoided Casey's blatant staring with a swift departure down his hallway.
You muttered something incomprehensible as Donnie took an especially sharp turn.
It was like a second nature for Donnie to chirp at you and press his cheek against the top of your head as he activated the door to the lab. It was one of the things that Donnie was actively choosing not to think about.
(He had a list.)
(Hypothetically.)
(If there were things that he needed to address.)
(Which there weren't.)
Donnie was so preoccupied in his thoughts that he didn't even think about the fact that he had managed to get a hoodie onto you without considering any of the necessary steps he needed to take before that. Namely, getting your swimsuit off first.
He... Donnie didn't think he should be doing that.
"Sweets, you need to go get changed," Donnie said softly, trying to lift you to your feet from where he had set you onto the bed.
(He tried not to think about the wet mark you left behind on his blankets.)
(Where was his mind today?)
You managed to blearily open your eyes and nodded at him. You allowed him to guide you to the bathroom and obediently took the pair of sweatpants he pressed into your hands.
Donnie shut the door behind you and took a deep, steadying breath. He willed his mind to that calming blankness he reached for during meditation. There was no other option, really.
Not on the fumes Donnie was barely running off of.
Ten seconds in.
Change out of his swim trunks. Place in hamper.
Fifteen out.
Replace the comforter, deal with it in the morning.
Twenty seconds in.
Take off his battle shell. Set it on the charger.
Twenty-five --
You opened the door to the bathroom, the light pouring in behind you as you yawned widely. You half-stumbled, half-walked towards his bed.
Donnie had to catch you as you attempted to pull yourself onto his sheets, your hands failing to find traction on the satin.
You giggled sleepily, your hand landing on the collar of Donnie's hoodie while he attempted to tuck you in. You managed to find his arm and tugged at it, humming happily as you managed to pull it to your chest.
Donnie, already leaning over the bed and in grave danger of losing his balance, had to make a quick choice.
Pull away, calm his heartrate, and go sleep on the lab couch, or...
He could stay.
He couldn't--
Could he--?
You would never--
You made the decision for him, in the end, whether you were conscious of it or not. You pulled forward Donnie with the whole weight of your torso as you leaned farther into his bed.
It was all Donnie could do to keep from squishing you beneath him as he landed on the bed. He would be lying if he said he didn't delight in the fact that you were so near, that every bone in his body wasn't screaming at him to stay close to you at all times.
You snored softly next to Donnie, your ability to pass out within an instant never lagging.
He... would be staying. It didn't seem worth it to disturb you more than Donnie had to.
That was the most reasonable justification that Donnie could find, in any case.
(He really needed to get his hindbrain in order.)
"Shelldon, lights off."
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