Chapter Text
“CASEY!!”
Donnie’s shout nearly shook the foundation of the lair to nearly everyone's dismay. Patrol had gone extra long that night and anyone in their right mind was resting or at least trying to relax.
Relax how? By watching the seventeenth season of Super Robo Mecha Force Five, of course.
Everyone was huddled on the couch, watching the opening sequence with exhaustion ridden attention.
Everyone except a certain purple themed turtle.
Casey simply rolled over from his position on the couch, tilting the back of his head over the armrest to look up at the turtle who was quickly stomping his way over.
Sigh. The badly dubbed anime would have to wait, apparently.
“What.”
A glass beaker was suddenly shoved into his face, much too close for comfort. Casey was mildly surprised with himself that he didn’t flinch. Maybe it was because his entire body was dead tired from skating around for hours.
Donnie’s angry face looked warped through the curved glass as Casey glared at him.
“Did you go into my lab?”
Casey pushed the beaker out of his face with a finger.
“No? Why would I wanna enter your dorky nerd zone?”
He had gone in there earlier just to snoop around, but he wasn’t about to admit that to an angry ninja who looked two seconds away from blowing a fuse.
“I know you did, Jones.”
It’s more of a hiss than anything and its tone ruffles Casey the wrong way.
“Whu- I said i didn’t, so I didn’t!”
Their squabble had now reached the point where the others were turning away from the screen. Leo, the most reluctant.
“Donnie, if he says he didn-”
“But he did!”
More than anything, Casey wanted to comment on how Donnie’s voice cracked, but the sensible voice in his head reminded him that a beaker could be smashed into a glass knife probably faster than he could run away.
“Dude, just chill out.”
Casey scratched at his face as he yawned, feeling the face paint he had forgotten about smear under his finger. Whoops.
Ah well, it wasn’t like he was going out again soon.
“Chill out?... Chill out?!”
Leo had apparently decided that he wasn;t going to be a part of the conversation anymore, turning back to the anime and not daring to look back at the fight that was inevitably escalating.
“ You were messing around with my current chemical experiment? You could have ruined my chances of synthesizing a retro-mutagen!”
More like ruined his chances of getting with April, Casey mused in his mind. April was gonna be his, whether Donnie liked it or not. Casey Jones was gonna get the girl.
“How did you even know I was in there? It’s not like you guys have cameras or anything.”
The beaker was shoved again in his face, but before Casey could push it away again, he noticed a black smear on the outside of the glass.
He crossed his eyes to see it better.
A dark, smudged fingerprint.
Busted.
“You left your face paint all over my desk, my notebook, my research. You always leave these dirty face paint smears on my cups and doors and everywh- YOU LEFT ANOTHER!! ”
Donnie pulled the beaker up to his eyes, losing his temper as he squinted at the dirtied glass.
“You always insist on wearing your ‘warpaint’ but you never clean it up? How do you expect me to work like this? What if the oil based polymers reacted with my nitrogen tetroxide and rendered it null? Huh, Jones?”
The turtle was now pacing back and forth, not even looking at Casey as he ranted.
“Ignoring the fact thatI have no idea what you just said, just wipe it off! It’s not that big of a deal.”
Casey lifted his arms above his head, closing his eyes as he nonchalantly stretched out his back, relishing in the way Donnie’s face scrunched up in frustration.
His foot ended up hitting Raph who was sitting at the other end of the couch.
“Donnie. Just shut up n’ let it go .”
The death glare that came from those bright green eyes made even Casey want to stop talking and the look wasn’t even directed at him.
Donnie stooped down, not two inches from Casey’s face. His voice low and quiet, he whispered into Casey’s ear.
“STOP wearing that stupid face paint, STOP going into my lab, and STOP leaving these DISGUSTING marks everywhere.”
In turn, Casey just snorted and rolled back over to watch Captain Dash slap Dr. Blip across the face yet again. Oh how Casey wished he could slap a little nerd like that.
“Yeah okay, whatever man.”
“I’m serious.”
Once Donnie’s footsteps faded and he heard the door to the lab slam shut, Casey let out the breath he had been holding.
Was it normal to feel that warm after someone threatened him like that? With that low and harsh voice all up in his face? It was normal, right? It had to be.
Casey barely had time to debate it over in his head before another shout came from the lab.
“UGH! YOU UNCIVILIZED NEANDERTHAL! YOU STAINED MY LAB CHAIR!!”
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽☾ ”Time does not change us, it only unfolds us” ☽☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Leo got up off his knees, taking a deep, refreshing breath. A midday meditation always helped to clear his mind. As he stretched out his legs, feeling slightly stiff after being bent for so long, he noticed his brother’s weapon that had been previously leaning against the dojo wall, slip and clatter to the floor.
Leo always had his katanas strapped to his back. As leader, he took it upon himself to always be ready for anything at all times.
Raph’s sais and Mikey’s nunchucks were small enough to fit comfortably in their belt holsters.
Donnie’s six foot staff, however, was too large to be constantly carried around and was therefore often left in the dojo. It wasn’t like he was leaving himself defenseless or anything, he had years of hand to hand combat mastered and his weapon was never really that far away.
Leo crossed the matted floor to upright the staff again, but once he got close enough to get a good look at it, he sucked in a small breath with a grimace.
Ohh boy.
Donnie wasn’t going to like that.
Straight on the grip tape, there was a five inch dark black smear. It was stark against the white of the tape and by the looks of it, wasn’t coming off any time soon unless Donnie replaced the entire grip with new tape.
Leo pushed a finger down the mark, feeling a small bit of it transer. He rubbed his fingers together.
Yep. Oil based paint.
Casey’s doing.
Careful not to leave another mark, he carried the stick out of the dojo and mentally prepared himself for Donnie’s wrath.
Now- Leo may have been leader, but when Donnie was mad mad, he had a temper that put Raph’s to shame.
He brought up his fist and rapped on the door twice.
“Hey, Donnie?”
There was a bit of shuffling before it opened, revealing Donnie dressed in a black sweatshirt.
“What’s up, Leo?”
Okay, he looked pretty neutral. A good sign.
“Okay, you have to promise you won’t get mad.”
Donnie’s face quickly darkened. Wrong move wrong move-
“What happened.”
He said it more like a statement than a question.
“You’re already getting mad-”
“Just tell me what happened!”
The purple turtle crossed his arms, his mask creasing as he furrowed his brows.
“So… uh- Caseyleftpaintonyourstaffand… I don’t think… it’s… going to come… out?”
Leo’s rapidfire explanation slowly pittered out into a weak question as he watched the anger melt from his brother's face. It turned into confusion when Donnie started snickering.
“Pfft- I thought something actually bad had happened.”
“Huh?”
But… Donnie hated it when Casey ruined his stuff. That’s how it’s always been, right?
“Casey wanted to try my bo staff when he was over earlier, so I tried to teach him a few moves.”
Donnie took the weapon out of Leo’s stunned hands, looking closely at the smudge.
“And… you let him?”
“Uh, yeah? It’s not like he was going to break it or anything.”
Donnie said with a relaxed shrug.
“But- but he stained it. Aren’t you upset?”
Leo watched as his brother rubbed his hand over the smudge, smearing it further until it wouldn’t transfer off anymore.
“Not really, it’s just paint. Besides, it’s a nice reminder of him. The way you can always tell where he's been and half the time he doesn't even notice... Greasy and grimy little Casey Jones.”
It was technically an insult, but Donnie had called Casey ‘greasy and grimy’ with such a fond tone.
“...If you say so. At least you aren’t mad.”
Donnie let out a small snort at that and Leo suddenly noticed that he had splotches of paint on his face.
They were barely noticeable but clearly there.
“Uh… You got a little something on your, um…”
Leo gestured to his cheek.
Donnie had faint smudges of black and white on his cheek, forehead, neck, and even a little bit on his lips-
“Ahaha- What?! Don’t pay attention to that!”
He reached up to touch his face, immediately flaring red and frantically rubbing his sleeve against his face.
“You’ve got some on your shirt too- Why are you covered in Casey's face paint? And when did you get a NASA hoodie? That looks too nice to be from a dumpster-”
“OKAY GOOD TALK, LEO. BYE.”
And then the door slammed shut in the face of a flabbergasted Leo, his mask tails flying behind him from the force.
He stood there for a moment, stupefied whiplash rooting him to the spot.
Leo shook his head, turning away and going back to the dojo.
He needed to clear his head again.