Here’s a concept that could make the weird one-sidedness of Apritello more appealing:
Of course ‘Freak of Nature falls for Kindhearted Human Gal’ is a 10/10 trope, we love it BUT CONSIDER-
Regular human gal April O’Neil looking at the manmade affront to God that is Donnie, the mutant who entrusted her with the secret of his existence, who enjoys her company and laughs at her jokes, who grins that stupid (cute) tooth gap at her when he finally figures out a difficult chemical formula or how to fix the toaster again, and falling for HIM FIRST.
And it’s APRIL that has to grapple with all the teenage angsty mush that comes from having a crush on top of the Mutant Ninja Turtle thing because
1) April is literally the first friend Donnie has ever had and she doesn’t want to ‘betray’ that friendship he values so much by stacking romantic feelings on top.
2) Donnie has no real frame of reference for any non-familial relationships and April doesn’t want to somehow take advantage of him due to his lack of understanding.
3) He is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Having a crush on him has got to be some sort of immoral, right?? Is that even legal???? Is he going to think she’s a freak??!?
Just…April falling first could be great for Apritello because it twists the typical formula on its head and gives April a bit more of a role in the potential romance than ‘The Prize’ for Donnie to win.
April falls First and Donnie falls Harder.
Also I just want April to have an existential crisis late at night while staring at her ceiling and thinking to herself
“Am I, perhaps, a ✨~Freak~✨?”