Three Words

Hey April.
Two words. Three syllables. It takes less than a second to say. It's a simple greeting. It doesn't get him flustered when he says it...well...not any more.
Compliments are hard. They vary in length and, depending on what the compliment is, vary in how hard it is to get out.
But even the deepest compliment he can think of pales in comparison to another simple phrase.
I love you.
Three words. Three syllables. Also takes less than a second to say. Yet these three words strike fear straight through him.
Why?
That's all he wonders.
Why?
It's three words. Three. Little. Words. He shouldn't fear them. But he does.
He's been dying to get the phrase to come out of his mouth. And he can. When he's standing infront of a mirror and no one else is even in earshot.
Really, he's been dying to get those words out while standing face to face with the person he wants to say them to.
But he hasn't been able to do it.
Three words.
Three words.
Three. Words.
Ugh. Why?
He's thought about why. It can't be the words themselves. He's torn the sentence apart and used all the words seperately. I am going to my lab. I love working. You look nice.
I. Love. You.  
None of those sentences are hard to say (except maybe the last one when he's standing face to face with April.) So the words are not the issue.
So what is it?
Why is it that when you put innocent three words together, they somehow transform into something incredibly terrifying.
Why?
It's something he hasn't quite been able to quite wrap his scientific brain around. They are words, not chemicals. They shouldn't blow up in your face when you put the wrong mixture of them together.
But they do.
Therefore, with this realization, words are similar to chemicals. Apparently, these three innocent words, when put together, become something insumoutibly more volitle than any of them alone. So how can he create that concoction when April's around? These words are dangerous. He can't just put them together hopelessly and hope no one gets hurt. You can't do that with chemicals. Recklessness=Injury. His injury most likely since he was the closest to the chemicals.
"Oh, Come on." He finally blurted out. He couldn't take it any more. He began shouting in his lab. More accurately, he was shouting at the shiny metal cabinets that he kept so pristine. "It's not hard, Donatello. It's not hard. It's three words. Why are they so bad?!"
"Why is what so bad?"
When Donatello was little, a stupid question bugged him. It's been bugging him for seven years, and he finally got his answer today. Yes, turtles do pale. Incredibly.
"April," he swallowed the lump in his throat and turned around to face the girl of his dreams. Red hair, blue eyes; a stunning combination. "It's nothing, I was just talking to my self."
"Yes, because pacing around your lab frantically for fifteen minutes is normal," she spoke, slightly sarcastically, smiling slyly.
Donnie's brow shot up nervously, "You've been standing there for fifteen minutes?"
"Actually, only the last five, but I saw you pacing when I got here."
Donnie sighed. That was all he could do.
"So what's got you so worked up?" April began to pry.
"Nothing," Donnie waved off quickly.
A look of complete non-belief came across April's face, "Would you like to change your answer?"
Donnie groaned, hanging his hands in his head. "No."
"See, that wasn't a question," April cleared up, realizing there was quite a bit of sass in her voice. She ignored it and continued. "I know I phrased it as one, but it wasn't. What I was really saying is 'change your answer'."
Donnie looked up at her. That fierce look of determination flickered like a fire in her eyes. There was no winning. Instead, there was a downhill spiral in front of him, and he would start down it the second he opened his mouth. With a heavy sigh, he took that leap. "I was wondering about a few words."
April headed over to his desk. She could almost hear the gears in his head grinding frantically as he began talking. From his sigh, this talk was going to take a while. She hopped up on his desk and pointed to his chair. Donnie was able to take her hint and slid defeated over to his chair. "What's this about three words?" She prompted him on after he had settled in the old office chair.
"How can three words be so bad?"
"Ya, so what are these three little words?"
Donnie saw this opportunity to get out these three words. This was the perfect situation. He would be answering a question, not confessing...exactly. "I love you."
April raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure if she should be surprised or confused. One thing was for sure though, it did send her mind into a fury of thoughts. She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it fairly quickly. Finally, the only sound she was able to get out was a conflicted 'hmm'.
"See that's what I'm talking about. Why are..."
"What context are you using them in?"
For the second time, Donnie paled. And further down the spiral he fell. "Why?" he tried to stop from going any further.
"Well..." April wasn't sure quite why she asked that question, but she did. Looking at Donnie, she could almost see where this was going. The tornado of thoughts in her mind calmed, and in its path lay all the evidence to prove it. That was when it hit her. She did know where this was going. With a hint of pink crawling across her cheeks, she stuttered out the remained of her reply. "Is this for scientific purposes or...is it personal?" She really felt the heat roar up to burn her face with that last word.
"Uhhh..." April was a shade of red to match Raph's mask. He had never seen her (anyone) that glowing red...ever. He started glowing from embarrassment. "Umm..." he didn't want to lie, but...would that be considered lying if he said...he was wondering how those words could be so...no, it would be lying...could he actually lie...no, he couldn't get away with it...could he? "Hypothetically...scientifically speaking..." nope, he was not going to pull that off.
"Personal?" She wasn't sure how much more heat she could stand. Her face was practically on fire and she was fairly certain she was about to have a heart attack at any second.
Donnie watched April's face grow redder (although he really wasn't sure how that was possible). With a blush that seared his cheeks, he nodded. "Personal,"
"Well...what about them is bugging you?" She knew. It was obvious. And it was awkward and amazing and shocking and terrifying how three little words can wreak this much havoc and stir so much emotion and cause so much confusion and...outright make your head spin and your stomach turn and steal the breath right out of your lungs and...wow.
"Well...how they...are so...how they cause so...how they..." For the first time, Donnie could not describe it. Not scientifically, not unscientifically, not comprehensibly, not incomprehensibly. He was just outright unable to explain. Period.
"Ya," April saved him. "They do take the words right out of your mouth...don't they..." April wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. This was growing so awkward. She couldn't leave, that would be odd, she had to stay, but that was odd. So she just twiddled her fingers, glimpsing up at her best friend from time to time, processing those three little words.
Three words.
Three words
Three. Words.
Wow.
It was just three words. How can the three words that she says to her father on a daily basis be so poignant now. How can three words that come from her father constantly be so different when they come from the mouth of her best friend. How can three words change so juristically when they come from another person.
Neither one could speak. They just sat there in awkward silence for a while. 
Donnie finally broke the silence after finally piecing together some form of a sentence. "Ya. It's just three words. Why are they so hard to say?" a cheesy grin was plastered across his face. He felt like a total idiot.
April shrugged. "I don't know. But it's surprising the...effect they have," April answered. Her face was still red and it was still hard to breath. She wasn't even thinking about why she was so wound up, but she was, and it was obvious to everyone except her and Donnie.
Donnie nodded, now unable to even look at her. He looked down at his feet. "It just doesn't make sense to me,"
"Love doesn't make sense to anyone," April paused, a shocked look coming across her face. Did that actually just come out of her mouth?
Donnie didn't catch it. He was way to out of it. He was expecting, no, waiting for the heart-wrenching hit to come. he was waiting for the rejection. He was falling, fast, and not stopping. "No, It doesn't."
April couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. "So why were you even thinking about these three words?"
The tension that settled in the lab after that question was enough to suffocate the two people in it. If someone did cut it with a knife, the energy that would be released would surely be enough to kill the both of them.
Donnie saw the unavoidable blow coming, and boy was it going to hurt. "Because I love you."
April could have passed out right then and there. She couldn't breathe. Her heart stopped. Her face burst into flames. She couldn't figure out why.
Until she realized she loved him too.
Donnie's eyes met hers. The world literally stopped. Completely. Everything froze. The clocks stood still. Time did not pass.
Everything was surreal.
Three words.
Three words
Three
Words...