Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Your coworker, David, called over his shoulder, zipping out the door for his unapproved smoke brake. You waved back absentmindedly as you handed a young boy a pair of size 9 skates that he was sure would fit him. You knew for a fact that he would be back not even five minutes later, asking for a more accurate size.

Your gaze loomed around the large skating rink, filled with kids ranging in all ages and couples trying way too hard to be cute. The “DJ booth” (it was really just a glorified fold out table and a busted laptop that barely connected to the speaker system) was blasting several classic rock and disco songs, picked by the self designated dee-jay, Jeffery. 

The concession stand—surrounded by multiple 80’s style diner booths, plush cushioning covered with stains and rips and sticky residues that could never be wiped off from the tables—was crowded with parents who absolutely did not want to be there and teens that were too afraid to go out onto the rink and make fools of themselves. The designated arcade zone was probably the most deserted part of the rink, with it only having a handful of actual video games and a confusingly large number of claw games and gacha machines. Really, the whole rink was due for an upgrade, the retro style carpeting most definitely being put in before it actually became ‘retro’. 

Idly swaying to Jeffery’s outstanding song choice, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” you drummed your fingers against the counter and looked at the digital clock that hung over the entrance of the bathrooms. In big, red numbers, it read 10:37. Just three more hours, then you were home free for the weekend. 

Summer jobs were the worst, especially if you have the night shift. Even more so if your workplace closes at one in the morning.

You pulled your attention back when two teenage girls walk up to your counter. You recognized them immediately as fellow teens that went to your school—though you didn’t recall the kid with the eye catching broach as much as you did the girl beside her. April O’Neil, you faintly remembered, you sat beside her in your World Geography class last year, and you both had the same Maths class the year before. From what you knew, she had always been very kind and chatty. The few times you talked last year, you remembered how easily you could banter with her, when usually you struggled in the small talk department.

“Hey, (y/n), right?” April grinned, her voice light and welcoming, like she had known you all her life. Maybe that was just the way she spoke to everyone. “From Mr. Berlin’s geography class. I didn’t know you worked here!”

You had a bashful smile, hiding the surprise you felt that she even recognized you. You never considered yourself to be entirely memorable at your school. 

“Ah, well yeah. I started this summer,” you replied, turning to the shelves of rentable skates. The two girls gave you their shoe sizes, and April slid back in conversation with ease.

“Say, you wanna join us? Can’t imagine it’s fun standing behind this counter all night.” She grinned, with the girl beside her nodding her head. Your heart soared at the offer, very rarely were you ever asked to hang out —but you hesitated on the offer.

“Ah, I better not,” you declined, giving them the most apologetic look you could muster, “I’m covering for someone right now, maybe when he gets back?”

April returned your excuse with an understanding smile. “Well, alright then. We’ll be out on the floor if you change your mind!”

The two girls bid you farewell as they walked off, your gaze trailing after them with a heavy heart. You always had trouble making friends, but here was one of the coolest people you’ve ever met, asking to hang out with you! And you said no. 

You continued grumbling to yourself, watching from a distance as April and Broach Girl had the time of their lives together, laughing and chatting and—

And you so desperately wanted to join in. But, what would you even do? You were always so awkward around people, you’d probably mess things up somehow. The great thing about talking with April while in class was that you had so much to talk about! Different classes, school projects, terrible teachers.., but out there on the rink? You weren’t confined to the safety of the classroom now! What else did you have in common with her besides your shared hatred for Mr. Weber’s vocabulary tests?? 

But, then again, it was her who asked you to hang out, so surely that meant she thought you were cool, right? She wouldn’t have even bothered if she didn’t think you weren’t worth her time. So.. so maybe it would be okay to skate with her. Maybe you could finally make some friends—

You were pulled from your thoughts when something suddenly clattered onto the counter. You looked down to see a pair of size 9 skates and the tip of a little boy’s head. You sighed, flashing a final glance back over at the two girls, before handing the boy a smaller pair. 

Right, you couldn’t hang out—you had a job to do. You didn’t want to tempt the fates and potentially get yourself fired for blowing off your job while at your job…

…

…But if you had someone to cover you…

You glanced at the back door, you could ask David. Honestly, he should’ve been back by now. With a scowl making its way onto your face, you stepped towards the door. Hesitantly, you grabbed the handle, the cool metal burning your skin. Then you swung it open, your head ducking around for David. 

Your frown deepened.

“David?” You called out, taking a step into the alley. “David.”

But there was no David.

“Unbelievable,” You hissed out, “Did he just leave?”

You cover for him time and time again, and this is how he repays you? Well, next time he’s just gonna have to live with not pumping his lungs full of toxins for a little while. 

You spun back towards the door, your chest tightening with aggravation. As you stormed back into the building, you failed to notice how you stepped over a freshly lit cigarette that was left abandoned on the alley floor and the odd silhouette by the dumpster.

Wiping down the tables by the concession stand, you swayed to the music that hummed through the air. Jeffery faded out the current song playing and let the next one on the playlist, “Stayin’ Alive” transition smoothly into the speakers. You threw your head back, laughter bubbling out of you without much self control.

“What??” Jeffery called from behind his booth, “you got a problem with The Bee Gees?!”

“Only when it’s one of their most overrated songs!” You answered back, a wide grin visible across your face. Jeffery gasped, his face dropping in dismay.

“You take that back! This is a classic.”

“It’s overplayed.” You corrected.

“Listen, it wouldn’t be overplayed if it wasn’t good. And this is some of their best stuff!”

“Agree to disagree.”

“Only people with shit taste say that.”

“Only people with shit taste listen to “Stayin’ Alive”.” You countered.

“I think there must be something wrong with your hearing, because there is absolutely nothing shit about “Stayin’ Alive.” Jeffery defended, grabbing his bag, “Re-evaluate your opinions, dude.”

You rolled your eyes, but were unable to fight off the smile teasing the corners of your lips. You heard Jeffery laugh.

“Alright, I’m headin’ out, “ he announced. “Want me to keep it on?” 

You threw your head back and groaned dramatically, “Ugh, yeah. I guess I’ll continue to listen to your mediocre music while I close up.” 

Jeffery shook his head with a chuckle, before bidding you a goodnight and heading out the door. With music flowing through the skating rink and the absence of your only friend, you quickly got back to work. 

It only took you a few minutes to clean off the rest of the tables and wipe down the booth seats, so you were able to move on to your last task of the night. Then, finally, you could leave.

You pulled a trash bag out of its bin and tied off the strings. Setting the plastic bin back behind the counter, you tossed the garbage bag over your shoulder and headed to the back door. David flashed into your mind and a prickling frustration bubbled through your veins. 

Oh, you were going to have a word with him.

You stepped out into the alley, surveying the area for one final time that night. It was everything you expected from an alleyway. The large, army green dumpster (the one you were currently yeeting a trash bag full of half eaten pizza and candy wrappers into).., the dented aluminum trash cans..,soggy, decaying cardboard boxes.., the vomit inducing stretch of blood.., the abandoned, unconscious silhouette of a body—

You paused. 

Just barely hidden from plain sight, there it laid. If you were simply walking down the sidewalk and not paying attention, you would have most definitely missed it. The revolting smell became stronger, and you soon realized it wasn’t wafting from the aluminum trash cans, but from the limp, sprawled out body of a creature just a few feet from the dumpster.

You would’ve thought it was just another person, what else could have the same, long silhouette of a human? But with the small stream of lamp light that pooled into the alley, you saw a horrible shade of green. Now, by no means were you an expert of the human body—hell, you had barely passed biology last year—but you were fairly certain that it didn’t turn green. At least, not in a literal sense. 

So, what the ever loving fuck was this thing?

Hesitating for many seconds, your eyes studied the body. You let your eyes adjust to the dark atmosphere, and soon it became increasingly easier to see. You then were able to notice the soft, staggered rise and fall of the creature's shelled chest. It was alive. This thing—coated in blood and cuts and looking like it had been to hell and back—was somehow alive.

Without much thought, or the consideration that you described the being’s chest as ‘shelled’ , you scrambled to their side as you began looking everything over. Loose pebbles and grime rubbed uncomfortably against your knees as you tried not to gag when your hands came into contact with their blood and chilling-to-the-bone skin.

Questioning what decisions you had to have made to have this brought upon yourself, you looped your arm around the creature—barely managing to do so with the large, chilling shell that hung on their back—and lifted them up with a grunt. Holding their uninjured arm around your neck, you dragged them inside the skating rink. With an effort to get the creature’s—you deducted it as a turtle of some kind..? Hence the shell, maybe—body off of you as soon as possible, you hastily lifted them into the counter and rushed for the first aid kit.

You hovered over the body again, trying to rack your brain for any useful tips you learned from the brief safety course you were forced through  when you first started at the rink. But knowing how to apply plasters and to treat concussions didn’t seem all that helpful at the moment.

You needed to clean the wound first.. right?

God, you are gonna kill this thing before you even figure out what they are supposed to be—

First, you removed their purple colored arm and knee braces, allowing yourself to better examine the turtle. They were covered almost head to toe (you would like to note the fact that they had only TWO TOES on each foot) in scrapes and cuts and bruises and other assorted minor injuries. 

You relaxed immensely over the lack of anything terrible looking and cracked open the plastic container, shoveling through the piles of bandages and wrappings. No disinfectant or medicine of any kind. Go figure that your boss was cheap enough not to stock a proper first aid kid. 

You glanced down at the floor in thought and noticed your half-drunk water bottle that had been knocked off the counter during all the commotion. Well, it wasn’t perfect, but you needed to clean the cuts somehow.

Grabbing a rag and the water bottle, you hovered over the cuts with great hesitance. Their blood continued to drip onto your precious counter and immediately you gagged. 

Don’t throw up, don’t throw up…

The metallic smell only continued to wrap itself around you and choke you out as you ‘disinfected’ the area. Bile clawed up the back of your throat, but you swallowed hard and carried on. The sight of blood began to lessen the more you rubbed it away, and you were able to move onto the bandaging. Tentatively, you wrapped the bandage around the turtle’s(?) right arm, then the other, before moving down to its legs. Thankfully—like your examination had shown—nothing else seemed too bad, their limbs seemed to have taken most of the damage, and even then it was mostly minor cuts and bruises. But there were just so many. You were admittedly terrified, there was no way this thing passed out from a tornado of paper cuts—so that means they were knocked out by some other reason. 

That reason being; well, you had no clue yet, but your brain had no problem supplying examples and scenarios. 

Eventually, you had finished wrapping their ankle and had the chance to better look over the creature. Tied around its head was a mask with the same matching purple from before, with a pair of unusual goggles perched on their forehead, the lens two different colors—red and blue. The shell on its back was—again—a shade of purple, which immediately rang alarm bells in your brain, as turtle shells weren’t normally such a pretty violet. In fact, it didn’t even feel like a shell, it seemed to be made of some material—maybe some kind of metal or plastic perhaps? You couldn’t exactly tell.

Shaking your head and focusing on their head, you decided that maybe the counter top wasn’t the most comfortable place to rest on. You managed to pull the turtle-thing over to one of the plush, diner booths and laid them down over the seating. Heaving out labored breaths, you slumped down to the floor with exasperated gasps.

You didn’t realize how much your body was running on adrenaline until it all drained out of your system completely, exhaustion swiftly washing over to take its place. Your muscles twitched slightly ever so often as you laid sprawled across the scratchy, slightly sticky carpeted floor.

Concern wrangled itself around your brain. You were fairly certain that the creature had a concussion—why else would they have been passed out in an alleyway? But there was no way to know for sure while they were still unconscious—and there was only so much you could do at that point. But you had already done this much for the turtle, the least you could do was finish the job.

So you waited there, picking at the retro themed carpet. Boredom was setting in, and the lack of adrenaline rushing through your veins made it harder to stay awake. Nathaniel the turtle (the longer you spent with the unconscious body you realized how dehumanizing it was to just refer to them as a creature—even if the term ‘creature’ was more accurate. But you couldn’t exactly ask if they had a name so you took the liberty to give them one. Thus; Nathaniel) and the mop you used to clean their blood off of everything as your only companions.

You spend a lot of one-sided bonding time with Nathaniel, going on slight tangents to keep you awake and to hopefully disturb the turtle enough to pull them from their coma. You even went on a rant about David, muttering and cursing under your breath as you went into excruciating detail of all the times you had to cover his ass.

It was all a futile attempt to fight the sleep from your eyes, but an attempt nonetheless. Eventually, you turned to the bathroom clock once again, it quickly becoming another companion of yours during this never ending night. On its big, red digits, it read; 3:00.

God. You should’ve been asleep by now, all wrapped up in your warm, fluffy blankets with some 80’s sitcom playing in the background. Instead you were here, with some weird middle finger to Mother Nature only a few feet away of you. With an exhausted exhale through your lips, you turned back to where you had laid the knocked out Nathaniel.

Only you found yourself staring into a pair of dark, widened eyes.

A startled yelp ripped itself from your throat as you jutted back. Apparently, Nathaniel had the same idea, scrambling in the booth seat as he struggled to escape its ‘confinement’ as a slight screech filled the skating rink. It would’ve been an amusing sight if you both weren’t screaming your lungs out.

“Who are you?!” He hissed, pushing himself back against the wall the booth was set against. You noticed the way his eyes flickered around the room, never staying in one spot for too long, before making their way back to you. You wanted to shrink away from their deranged, dazed look.

“Wow, I save your ass and that's all you have to say?” You quipped, trying your hardest to hide the anxiety you felt.

Nathaniel—okay, you needed to stop calling him that, that most definitely wasn’t his name—furrowed his brows in confusion, frown deepening. 

“Save me..?”

“Uh—yeah,” you choked out, scratching your cheek subconsciously, “I found you passed out in the alleyway, and like, bleeding ‘n shit. I tried patching you up the best I could but—uhm—I’m absolutely not a professional so you might wanna get that looked at soon before you get an infection,” you pulled yourself off the floor, gesturing to his bandaged arms and legs, watching as he slowly peered down at them.

“Huh,” he hummed, “Uh, thank you, I suppose…” he glanced down at his arm, reaching out for his wrist before freezing. “My tech.. where’s my tech.”

Your heart stopped when his head snapped back towards you.

“What did you do with my tech?” He hissed through gritted teeth, immediately holding an aggressive air around him.

“Wha—”

“Don’t play dumb, I know you have it!!”

“Woah, dude! Chill out—” you fetched his purple coded arm and knee braces, and held them out anxiously. “You mean this stuff?”

He eyed you carefully before snatching his stuff out of your grasp. “And my tech-bo??” He queried, sliding his gear back on without breaking eye contact. 

“Tech-bo?” Your lip curled at the unfamiliar word. The turtle groaned.

“My staff. Where is my staff.” It wasn’t a question, that you knew for sure.

“I didn’t see a staff,” you answered, “not when I found you, at least. But we can check the alley.” 

The turtle glared at you, not looking all too convinced or reassured. “Fine,” he said finally, his jaw clenched and his shoulders tense.

With a nervous twist in your stomachs, you led him behind the counter and to the back door. You didn’t miss the glance he sent the counter top and he stiffened at the sight of his own blood that you had yet to clean. Grimacing, you carried on. 

You stepped out into the alleyway for the third time that night, stretching out your arms as if you were putting it on display.

“You were just over there by the dumpster—just totally clonked out, y’know?” You rambled as the turtle stoved past you, scrambling around the abandoned trash and cardboard. “Like, I was a hundred percent positive you were a dead body or something. But you weren’t, so I was like, ‘well, I can’t just leave this here, my boss will absolutely kill me’ so I carried your bleeding ass inside and—not that your ass was actually bleeding or anything—I mean, maybe. I didn’t check, because that’s a real weird thing to check and—”

“Okay, yes, thank you. Please shut up now,” the turtle dismissed you, waving a hand as he dove his head into the dumpster.

You huffed. Well, at least he said please… (silently, you were relieved he shut you up. Did you really just start talking about his ass bleeding???)

“No, no, no, no, no!” He hissed under his breath, pulling back from the dumpster and looking near the area you had first found him, “Ah- ha! There you are.” Grinning, he admired the long, futuristic-looking staff in his grasp.

You blinked, realizing just how out in the open it was. You don’t know how you missed it the first time; but when you see a potentially dead body, you tend to just drown everything else out.

“Well, uh, stay safe out there, turtle dude. Maybe try to pass out on a flower bed next time? I doubt that concrete is very comfortable.”

You flinched when his gaze flicked back to you, but this time it looked confused. 

“Wait, so you’re not gonna question any of.. well, this?” He asked, using his arm to gesture to himself. You gave a heave of your shoulders, exhaustion influencing your sluggish actions.

“Listen, man, it’s been a long night. The last thing I care about right now is why some unconscious turtle dude was bleeding out in my alleyway.”

“Oh, uhm. Well, alright then,” he gave a nod of his head, looking down at his arm with the tablet-gauntlet and typing away at the screen. Only a moment passed however, before he looked back up at you.

“And you’re not gonna tell anyone else you saw me.. right?”

“Even if I did, do you think anyone would believe me?” You scoffed back, “No, dude, I’m not gonna go spreading around that some talking turtle is running around New York, passing out in everyone’s alleys.”

He peered over at you, and you swore you saw the hint of a smirk. “Noted,” he nodded, turning his shell towards you as he spun his staff through the air, a faint purple glow emitting from it. He flashed you one final glance from his shoulder, before suddenly leaping into the air and scaling the alleyway buildings to the rooftops. And just like that, he was gone.

You stared up at the roof he disappeared on, disbelief clear on your face. With a click of your tongue, you headed inside to clean up the rest of the blood. Once you finished, you locked the back door of the skate rink and shoved your hands into your pockets. You wandered out of the alley, ready to finally head home. 

Unknowingly to yourself, you began subconsciously peering into alleyways that you passed, scanning for anything potentially out of place. On the subway, you flinched at every shadow and kept a close eye on the handful of people you saw on the train. You just prayed you didn’t smell like blood.

When you arrived home, you were surprised to find your aunt laying face down on the couch, her legs dangling over one of the arms rests, as you closed the door behind you. Normally she managed to at least make it past the kitchen before utterly collapsing. 

In the few hours watching over a strange turtle guy, you had just about forgotten about her. It was a little jarring seeing her be home before you. With her being a doctor and all, she often spent late into the evening at the hospital.

You peered over the couch, watching as your aunt’s back slowly rose and fell, soft and exhausted. You pulled a blanket off the nearby recliner and draped it over her shoulders, placing a light kiss on her temple.

Having a doctor for an aunt, you would think you’d know how to treat injuries better. To her credit, at one point in time in your life, she had tried teaching you a few things, but you never really paid much attention to it. You’d only nod your head and wait until she finished ranting about how to treat a third-degree burn.

If only you’d listened to her.

But, oh well. It wasn’t like you were ever gonna see that Professor Plum fellow again anytime soon.

“Night Aunt Lynn,” you hummed quietly, dragging yourself to the bathroom to wash off the smell of sweat and blood. You zoned out entirely when you began scrubbing your stained fingers, and only when you looked at yourself in the bathroom mirror did it hit you that you just had to wash someone else’s blood off your body. 

Your knees weakened, but you managed to carry yourself to bed before you collapsed on the bathroom floor. Yet, despite how tired you were, you knew sleep would never call your name. How could you sleep when there were so many questions left unanswered?

Like, how exactly did that turtle dude end up there in the first place? How did he get hurt so badly? What even was he? What happened to David? Why did he bail on you? Why do you still plan on going back tomorrow for your next shift, even though tonight was a clear sign that you should quit—

You ended up passing out not five minutes later. So much for not being able to sleep.

Chapter Text

That was it. David was officially on your hit list. 

The weekend had blown over quicker than you had hoped. Your mind was still reeling from Friday and you were very tempted to just call in sick and go back to sleep. You don’t know why you were so nervous—well, no. You did know, you just didn’t like thinking about it.

Patching up a rude, talking turtle who you found passed out in the middle of an alleyway? Yep, store that one in the ‘repressed trauma’ vault. Your therapist in thirty years can deal with that one.

But it seemed like life—more specifically your boss—had other plans, because while you were staring up at your bedroom ceiling, practicing your fake cough and working up the nerve to call up your work, your phone began to ring. Now, as someone with little to no friends (you’d count Jeffery, but he felt more like a ‘summer fling’ sort of friendship more than a legit one), you had no clue who could be calling you so early on a Monday morning. But then you saw your boss’s name pop up on the screen.

Welp, let’s hope your acting has gotten better since your 7th grade spring play. (Ha, we all know it hasn’t.)

Begrudgingly, you accepted the call (and unknowingly, your fate) and pressed the phone up to your ear. You barely managed to get a word in before your boss began going off on how he needed you to come in early to fill in for a certain someone . It took everything in your power not to yeet your phone straight into the wall.

So here you were, coming in early and doing David’s job for him— again. And on the one day you didn’t want to come into work. Today was going to suck, you just had a feeling. 

It didn’t help that every time you had your back turned, you felt like you were being watched. Like a mad man, you were constantly checking over your shoulder to look for some creep staring back at you, but usually instead you’d only find rambunctious kids running around and co-workers on the verge of an identity crisis.

Hah, felt thaaaat—

You were currently wiping down the counter with a dust rag that probably hadn’t been washed in years. You doubted it could actually clean anything at this point, but hey, make due with what you got, ya’ know? 

Normally you actually liked wiping off dust and grime; it was mindless and repetitive and simple, and you liked the satisfyingly clean results you got from a small bit of work. But simple and mindless were not what you needed today. 

The joy of having an easy job was that you could just let your mind run wild as you did pointless busywork around the rink, but what do you do when you need to take your mind off something?? 

You didn’t want to think about how you had to clean and wrap someone else’s injuries while they laid unconscious in front of you. You didn’t want to think about how you had to mop up someone else’s blood off the floor and tables. And you really didn’t want to think about the existence of large, talking turtles with glowing, futuristic staffs.

Yeah. No thanks.

But you soldiered on regardless, you actually liked this job, despite how much you could complain about it. You weren’t going to let it get ruined for you by one night. So you finished wiping down the counter and stopped to admire your work, when something slammed against the countertop suddenly, with full force.

“Shit—” you swore, clutching your chest as you glared at the person now magically in front of you.

“Y/n! How’s my favorite Bee Gees-anti?” Jeffery grinned.

“Scared shitless, thank you very much,” you snarked, pulling a laugh out of him.

“Hah! Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he spoke with a soft sincerity in his tone and immediately all grudges held against him had been forgotten. 

“I was just wondering if you wanted to take our lunch breaks together. It’s about that time I usually get something to eat, and I was thinking you’d be up to tag along,” 

Oh, yeah. Lunch. You almost forgot about it. 

You did a quick survey around the rink, subconsciously making one final attempt to find whoever was staring holes into the back of your head. You found, of course, nothing, and went back to look at Jeffery. 

Yeah, you could use a break.

“Sure,” you grinned, ”what were you thinking? I’m in the mood for anything really.”

Jeffery smiled down at you, looking rather ecstatic at your response.

“Oh, I think I  know a good place.”

“Okay, where are we going again? We should really be heading back to work soon,” You asked, looking around the subway car, bags of fast food in your lap. Jeffery gave a nervous smile.

“Okay, you have to promise not to be mad—”

“What the fuck did you do.”

“Nothing!” He shot his hands up in defense, “Nothing, I swear! I just thought maybe we could go over and check on David, and maybe bring him some lunch? He didn’t come in today and he hasn’t been answering my calls, so I figured maybe he wasn’t feeling well, or somethin’.”

You studied Jeffery for a moment longer. So that was what this was all about..

“Oh, that’s.. actually very sweet of you.”

Jeffery gave you a cocky grin, his familiar charisma shining back through again. “I know, right? Am I not just so considerate of my friends?”

You huffed out a laugh.

“I take it back. You’re an asshole,” you joked, nudging your elbow into his side, “I didn’t think you knew where he lived. Is there some secret bromance I don’t know about?” 

Jeffery flushed, letting out nervous, bubbling laughter. “No—uhm, no…” he glanced away, giving a tiny smirk, “And, uh, that’s because I don’t.. or actually, I didn’t know — I know now.”

Your brows furrowed. 

“What do you mean by—“

He held up a small manila folder, with the name ‘David H. Mitts’ crudely written on the little tab. Your eyes widened immediately with recognition.

“You didn’t.”

“Oh, but sweet, sweet y/n.. I did.”

“Is that actually..”

“Is it actually David’s file? You know it.”

“Jeff! Mr. Cardin is going to kill you when he finds out!” You exclaimed, lightly hitting his arm.

Jeffery laughed. “You wanna look through his resume?” He asked, offering the file over to you. With a glare, you snatched it from his grasp and began pilfering through the many sheets of paper. 

Everyone had a folder like this in your boss’s office, but it was never used for much, you didn’t think. It only held resumes and contact information, and your boss was the only one who had access to them. You’d only ever seen yours once, when Mr. Cardin first made it. He had spelled your name wrong, and when you told him, he insisted he wrote it the correct way. You don’t think he ever ended up fixing it. 

“Woah! I didn’t know he was Canadian,” you fought back a grin, pointing at the old high school he went to on his resume. 

“Oh yeah, I think he moved here about a year ago, for the college nearby,” Jeffery said, “what was it called again? Eastlaird University? I think he’s got some international scholarship or something.”

“That’s so cool,” you gushed, “I didn’t think David had anything interesting going on in his life.”

Jeffery snorted, “I’m telling him you said that.”

“Meh, go ahead. I couldn’t care less about what the guy thinks of me.” You shrugged, leaning further into your seat.

“Ah, you too just need to learn to get along.” Jeffery waved you off, “Trust me, David’s actually a pretty cool dude. You just gotta get to know him.”

You studied Jeffery for a brief moment, noticing the flush on his ears and cheeks. You grinned and shook your head, clicking your tongue. 

“Well, if you say so,” you relented, smiling knowingly to yourself.

Then the subway car pulled to a stop.

When you got off the subway, you realized that you still felt like you were being watched. You looked around one last time, scanning each person your eyes fell on. But.. but nothing seemed odd or out of the ordinary. Just people coming and going through the subway. You shook your head and followed Jeffery down the busy streets of New York, eventually winding up at a tall apartment complex..

“Do you know which floor he’s on?” You asked as you walked inside, eyeing everyone you passed. He scratched his cheek in thought.

“I think he said something about being on the second floor?”

“You think?”

You stepped into the elevator, and relief immediately washed over you when you no longer felt like you were being followed. You were safe in the confines of the elevator. The elevator jolted to a halt on the second floor and slowly pulled open, showing an empty hallway with probably over a dozen different doors.

“I don’t suppose you know which one is his?” You muttered, casting a glance towards your coworker. Jeffery huffed out a laugh, before pulling out his phone.

“Y/n, my friend, do you really take me as someone who doesn’t come prepared?” He grinned, showing you the screen. He had pulled up Instagram, with a post of someone’s front door. A door that looked identical to the ones in the hall.

“David made the mistake of telling me he has Instagram—which I toooootally didn’t spend a whole week trying to find.” you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, because asking him for it is sooo much worse than stalking him.”

“It is! And it’s not stalking.” He huffed, before pushing the phone into your face again. “But anyway, read the caption.”

You squinted your eyes at the screen and read aloud. 

“ ‘Locked out for New Years. What a great start lmaoo’ ” You looked back up at Jeffery with a raised eyebrow. “Ooh-kay. How is this supposed to help, stalker?”

“Fuck off. Look at the door number.”

In bold letters, it read; B26.

You looked around the hallway and found the same bold lettering. Oh, wow. Remember not to mess with Jeffery, dude has some serious tracking skills.

You turned to Jeffery.

“So we just walk until we find it?”

“Ding, ding, ding! And we have a winner!”

“Screw you,” you laughed, nudging his shoulder, “C’mon, let’s go annoy the hell out of David.”

You nearly ended up walking all the way to the other side of the hall before you found his apartment, but eventually, you had arrived in front of apartment B26.

Something about the door intimated you. 

“Do we just.. knock?”

“I guess,” Jefferey shrugged, tightening his hand into a fist and rapping on the door.

You waited, but there was no reply.

Jeffery knocked again.

“Hey David? It’s us, Jeff and (y/n). From work?” 

Again, no answer. You shared a look.

“David! You in there?” You called, going to knock to knock as well, but when your fist met the door, it slowly pushed open. 

“What the fuck.” You hissed, jumping away from the apartment door.

Jeffery didn’t acknowledge your reaction, instead going straight back to calling out for David.

“Dude?” He stepped inside. You had a horrible feeling knotting in your stomach, but you followed after him.

Unsurprisingly, it was a little messy. A few dirty dishes in the sink, a lone, unwashed towel just outside the bathroom, you get the picture. It was all in the typical college boy state any apartment would be in. Now, it wasn’t terrible, but it did smell like something had burned in there. You couldn’t figure out where the odor was coming from—that is, until you found the ashtray sitting by a small coatrack. Ah, how classy. 

But other than that, it looked fairly clean. 

You passed the kitchen and took note of the small pile of opened mail on the countertop. Walking over to the pile, you set the fast food on the counter and picked up the first letter you saw.

Dear Mr. Mitts,

We regret to inform you that, once again, you are late on due payments. If you cannot bring us the money agreed upon, we’ll have no choice but to take drastic measures—

You stopped reading after that. 

Walking into his apartment uninvited already felt like an invasion of privacy, you shouldn’t go snooping through his mail.

You left the kitchen and found Jeffery standing in the middle of the living room. Alone—most notably.

“Jeff?”

He turned to look back at you. His face was somber and pale. You hated it. You hated it so much.

“Y/n.. I don’t think he’s been here. Like, at all.”

You looked around. The apartment looked as if it had been frozen in time. You looked back at him.

“Where is he?” He croaked out, “Why hasn’t he been home? Why was his door left open? Why isn’t he answering any of my fucking calls?!”  

Jeffery let out a shaky breath and sank onto the couch. You only stood there, letting the chilling air nip at your arms.

“I’m sure he’s just.. out doing his own thing? Maybe his battery died.”

“You think his phone has just been dead for the entire weekend?” He hissed out, glaring up at you. You flinched back and turned to look at the floor. You felt his gaze bore holes into the side of your head, until he hid his face in his hand.

The silence was killing you.

You both had to head back, but Jeffery didn’t seem like he was moving from his spot on the couch anytime soon. He needed to stay, he said, he needed to be here when David came back.

“Okay.” You told him, “I’ll say you got a stomach bug or something. You have my number, call me if something happens.”

So, now you were covering not one, but two other shifts. Fun! 

To save yourself some trouble, you searched up the ‘80s radio station on Jeffery’s laptop and let the thing go wild. However, when the song “Under Pressure” began playing loudly through the speakers, you had a new unbridled rage for Queen and David Bowie. Low blow, guys, c’mon now. You’re better than that. (Oh, who were you kidding? Who could hate the Freddie Mercury.)

You were exhausted by the time you needed to close up shop. Once you left David’s apartment, the feeling of being watched only returned. You had never been more grateful for the crowded New York subway, as you weren’t exactly thrilled to be traveling on your own with this twisted feeling in your stomach. 

A wave of deja vu washed over you as you tied off the trash bag and heaved it over your shoulder. You turned to the backdoor and hesitated. Flashes of Friday night appeared in your mind as you stared down at the handle. 

Ugh, this was so dumb. What was the big deal? What were the chances you’d find another dead body?? 

Before you let your nerves get the better of you, you yanked open the door. You scanned the alley and were relieved to find that there were, in fact, no dead bodies. Immediately, you felt ridiculous. You had been on edge all day for no reason. No reason at all.

You flung the bag off your shoulder and tossed it into the dumpster, and with all that extra weight literally off your back, you thought you were in the clear for another regular night—well, as regular as it could get after your little adventure today.

That is, until you spun around to head back inside, only to find a shadowy figure suddenly in front of you.

“Fuck!” You hissed, pushed yourself back against the dumpster, clutching your shirt.

Your eye darted around. Trying to find something to focus on in the darkness. The first thing that registered in your brain was the color green. Well, green and purple, to be exact.

“You!” Your voice cracked, recognition slapping you right across the face. 

The turtle narrowed his gaze, looking admittedly a little bored. 

“Oh good, it is you. I was afraid I might’ve gotten the wrong person.”

Gotten the wrong person? What the fuck does that mean?!

You glanced down at his arms and legs, still wrapped in bandages, except they were much more clean looking than the ones you had done. You were immediately set off by the comically oversized purple hoodie that draped over his body, covering most of his identity. You began to notice a running theme with all this purple fuckery.

“I—uh..” you struggled, letting the gears turn in your brain, “Were you the one following me all day??” 

“Er—yes,” you gawked at his casual response.

“Why???” 

“I—” he paused, hesitating over his words, “I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the other night.. alone.”

“So you stalked me.”

“Wha—no! It’s just—I was trying to find a chance to talk to you. You were just never left alone and—” He stopped and took a deep breath through his nose (nose? Snout? Snose? Snose), “Look, can you just answer a couple of questions for me? This is very important—”

“Uh, no.”

He flinched back. “What—”

“No,” you repeated, “Absolutely not.”

“Wha—Why not?”

“Because I refuse to get wrapped up in whatever thiiiiiisssss—” you hissed, briefly gesturing to the turtle, “—is. Sorry creepy, turtle man, but not tonight.”

The turtle let out an offended gasp. 

“ Scoff! I am not creepy! I couldn’t exactly let anyone see me now, could I? Soooorrrryyyyy, I didn’t want to cause a scene!” 

Okay. Well, that was fair.

(Also, did he just say ‘scoff’? Like. Out loud?)

“And for your information, my name is Donatello— not ‘tur-tle man’,” he made quotation marks mid-air. ( Donatello? Oh, my god, who names their kid fucking Donatello??)

You snorted. “Your parents a fan of the renaissance or something?” 

With a grimence, he averted his eyes. “Something like that.”

“Well, Donatello,” you still couldn’t get over his name, “I’m kinda dealing with some shit right now, and getting stalked by some turtle dude is the last thing I need.” You stepped around him, “So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go back to living a normal, turtle-free life—”

A low, growling sound echoed through the alleyway, and with a flushed face you glanced down at your stomach. Oh, right . You had left your lunch at David’s place. Oh. Oh god no.

 You shot your head up, a horrified look plastered on your face, only to find Donatello holding a smug grin on his.

“Hungry?” 

You wanted to punch his stupid, green snose.

You ignored the egotistical smirk that dawned Donatello’s shit eating face as you crammed another fist full of fries into your mouth.

The Dairy Queen was nearly empty, save for you, Donatello, and the two employees behind the cash register (who, by the way, would not stop staring at you both. Rude) .

But the bored expression never left his face as you ordered your food. So you guess he didn’t really care. (Which, in your opinion, was a huge contradiction from earlier, but whatever.)

“So—” you paused to take a sip of your drink, the artificially flavored soda helping your dry throat, “You said you wanted to ask me a few questions, turtle dude?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Donatello,” he corrected, folding his hands together over the table. “And yes, I’m very.. curious about the other night.”

“Okay.” You took a bite of your cheeseburger. “Ask away.”

“Right. Well, I was hoping you could give me some insight on what happened. Can you tell me what exactly you saw before you found me?”

“Are you asking if I saw the thing that attacked you?” you clarified.

“I never told you that—”

“You didn’t have to,” you interrupted, pointing a fry at his arms, “just one look at you tells me that this wasn’t some accident with your pet cat—or whatever. Someone did that—more accurately—some thing. It was an animal, wasn’t it? Something like you?” You finished, tossing the fry into your mouth.

Donatello stared at you.

“Yes, uhm. You could say that,” he admitted with a tight jaw. You grinned. 

“Called it,” you lightly pumped your fist into the air, “but uh, no. I didn’t. All I saw was you passed out in an alley and..uh,” you shrugged, “that was kinda it. Sorry.”

Donatello gave you a curt nod and sighed, staring at the table. “Alright. And do you happen to know if anyone saw us? Were there any security cameras in the alley?”

“Dude, I don’t fucking know,” you huffed out, “but this is New York. If someone saw you last night, it would’ve been all over the news by now.”

“True,” he mumbled in agreement. 

“Plus, my boss is waaaaay too cheap for cameras. He can barely buy proper locks for the doors, much less security cameras.” You snorted, taking in another handful of fries. 

“Speaking of, you didn’t say anything to him about you seeing me? You didn’t go telling everyone and their mother about it?” he narrowed his eyes at you, his shoulders hunched over.

“Again, it’s New York. If word got out, you would know. And like I said, even if I did tell anyone, do you really think they’d believe me?” You asked, sipping your drink. “No, I didn’t tell anybody.”

“I’m just making sure,” Donatello raised his hands in defense, the sleeves of his hoodie rolling down to give a clearer view of his bandages.

Your curiosity got the better of you. “What.. did this?” You gestured to his arms. Donatello looked away, closing his eyes briefly. 

“I—it’s complicated,” he answered, hesitating. You leaned on the edge of your seat, the anticipation slowly suffocating you. But instead, Donatello coughed into his fist. “Besides, I thought you said you didn't care about all thissssss .”

You inwardly cursed. How dare he use your own words against you!

“Yeah, well. You bought me food, so now I’m intrigued.” You said, like it was so obvious, “Also, you stalked me all day over this, so it must be a pretty big deal—”

“Okay, I did not stalk you—” 

“You literally followed me around all day. Pretty sure that’s the textbook definition of stalking, my guy.”

“You are very infuriating, you know that?”

“D’aww! Thank you! You’re too kind.”

“I dislike you very much.”

“Wow. That’s a new record for me.” You sipped your Dr. Pepper (thank god for Dr. Pepper), “What was it? Two hours of you knowing me? Minus all the stalking parts of course—”

“Forget this,” Donatello stood up abruptly, “I’m leaving.”

“Leaving so soon? Thought you wanted to ask me a few things!”

“Yeah, but this is absolutely not worth it. I’m just wasting my time and my money.” He went to slide out of the booth.

“Aww, c’mon man! I’m just pulling your leg,” you gestured for him to sit back down, “Ask me your questions, turtle man. I’ll be serious this time.”

He stared you down for a few more seconds before he slumped himself back down in his seat.

“Good,” you gave a nod of your head, satisfied, “now, what else did you wanna know?”

“Well, did you happen to notice anything suspicious that night? Anything out of place or of the ordinary. Anything at all.”

You pursed your lips, going back over Friday night and combing through every detail you could remember. “Well, there were a few random customers here and there, but nothing I would label as ‘suspicious’.. ” 

You paused. Donatello raised an eyebrow (how did a turtle have eyebrows) and looked at you expectantly, waiting for you to continue.

“Except..” you trailed off, “Except for one thing. My co-worker. He.. he went out for a smoke break and didn’t come back, but I thought…” you bit the inside of your cheek, your chest tightening. “I thought he just left. I went to check on him and he was just.. gone.”

“Just gone?”

“It wouldn’t be out of left field if he just decided to ditch me,” you explained, “we never really saw eye to eye, y’know?” 

Donatello’s face darkened with a disturbed expression. “..Odd..” Was all he hummed out, before his eyes flickered back onto you. “What else?”

What else? What did he mean by what else—

You froze.

“Well…” you started carefully, “He—David.. he didn’t show up to work today, and he wasn’t answering any of our calls, so me and another coworker thought he was sick or something. We went to go check on him—I’m sure you saw that,” For a brief moment, you met Donatello’s gaze before he ducked his head and casted his eyes on the table, “But when we got there, it was—it was just empty. Like he hadn’t been there for a few days and—”

Your breath hitched, realization hitting you like a truck. You suddenly had the urge to hurl.

“Oh, fuck,” you breathed out, “…You don’t think he got attacked too, right?”

Something flashed in Donatello’s eyes. 

“I mean.. it is a possibility—It would fit within the place— and time frame since you had last seen him.. so it would make the most sense—” he stopped himself, finally noticed your terrified expression, “but—but it’s probably very unlikely—”

“Holy shit.” You slumped over the table, holding your head in your hands as you stared down at your half eaten burger. Yeah, you were definitely going to throw up. 

You looked over and studied Donatello’s arms. If that thing could hurt him— some weird turtle creature—this badly, then what could it do to a human?? 

“Holy shit, my friend is dead.”

“Now, we don’t know that for sure. I am sure your friend is..” he hesitated, “I’m sure your friend is safe.”

You looked up at him. “Don’t bullshit me, turtle man. What even is this thing? What are you??”

You realized this was probably a rude thing to ask, but you were tired of dancing around the topic. You were tired of all this weird shit happening all around you.

“Like I said. It’s complicated ,” Donatello hissed out through gritted teeth, “And none of your concern, I would think.”

“Oh, it is very much my concern.” You seethed back, “My friend—” (Not really, but you were trying to make a point, okay) “—could be dead because of this thing. I think I have a right to know what exactly is going on.”

Donatello took a deep breath.

“ Fine.” He hunched over the table, keeping eye contact with you with a harsh glare, “It’s a mutant. We’re mutants, okay?”

“Mutants,” you repeated, the word sounding almost foreign in your mouth. “What is this? Some kinda fucked up Sci-Fi novel?”

“Well, what do you want me to say?! I was genetically mutated in a lab by an evil mad scientist who wanted to make himself an entire army of mutant animals!” He huffed and slumped back in his seat. Angry silence filled the void of conversation, and it was slowly eating you up.

You couldn’t believe it. Was your coworker really gone? What would you tell Jeffery? Fuck, what can you even tell him? Would he believe you? Do you need to go to the police now? You probably should file for a missing persons report now. How many hours did you need to wait to be able to report one of those? 72 hours? That’s like three days, so you should be able to do one now—

“Okay, now I feel like I’m getting interrogated.” Donatello’s voice cut through the silence, breaking your train of thought. Despite the rather tense atmosphere, you couldn’t help but chuckle at this.  

“Good,” You breathed out with a smirk, “Doesn’t feel that great, does it?”

“It does, in fact, not,” Donatello admitted, lazily meeting your eyes again.

“So,” you took a deep breath, “Mutants. And you said this scientist guy made an entire army of you guys?”

“He was going to, but I stopped him. Sorta.”

“Sorta? Hm-mh, ooooh- kay. How do you sorta stop someone, perchance?” You hummed out, hands folded over the table.

“Well, we stopped him— but we couldn’t stop his oozquitoes—” he paused, catching the strange look you were sending him, “Ah, oozquitoes are these mosquitoes that he made to go around and infect people with his mutagen.. I thought we had taken care of them, but it appears I was .. wrong.” He choked out, like it physically pained him to admit.

You chewed on your lip, letting it all wash over you. Because fuck man. This was so fucking messed up. Mutated turtles, evil scientists, weird mosquitoes—sorry, oozquitoes. What the hell.

You go to say something—you don’t know what exactly, just something— when an awkward voice speaks up, startling you both.

“Hey dudes, we’re like, closing now? So, we kinda need you to leave…” one of the two Dairy Queen employees told you, hovering anxiously in front of your booth. He was not-so-subtly eyeing Donatello up and down with a disgusted expression, but then pulled away and cleared his throat again.

You flashed a glance at Donatello, before nodding back at the employee.

“Oh. Uhm, alright.. but, uh, hey,” you gave him a sheepish grin, “can I get a quick blizzard to go?”

You left the Dairy Queen with your freshly made blizzard in hand, smiling like you hadn’t just been told your coworker was potentially dead by some weird, mutant monster.

Because if there was one thing that could fix such grave news, it was ice cream.

You shoved another spoonful into your mouth, humming happily.

Mmmmm, fucking delicious. Dairy Queen, you beautiful bitch.

Your attention is pulled back to the turtle when he loudly clears his throat.

“Well, it seems as if I've gotten what I came for—or as much as I could get. Thank you for your.. cooperation, it is much appreciated,” he gives a stiff nod of his head.

“Oh, yeah. Sure thing,” you nodded back, “Though, next time you need my help with something, maybe don’t stalk me for the whole day? Just a thought.” You laughed at the scrunched up look Donatello sent your way.

“Harr, harr. Yes, we get it, I’m a freak. Thought we established this when you learned I was a mutant turtle,” he sneered, “Good luck not getting killed by a mutant dog on the way home or whatever.”

With lightning speed, he spun on his heel and began strolling away, raising his hand to bid you a careless farewell. 

“What?! Asshole!” You barked out, glaring at the back of his magenta hoodie. “You’re really just gonna let some poor defenseless human walk home all on their own?”

“Any other defenseless human?.. probably. You? Definitely.”

“Wha—JERK.” You hissed, squeezing your blizzard cup. You watched his retreating figure walk down the pavement until you felt something cold drip onto your hand. You looked down and noticed your ice cream spilling over.

Great.

Heaving out a sigh, you looked back to Donatello, only to find the turtle gone.

Chapter Text

If someone were to suddenly learn about the existence of genetically mutated human-slash-animals, how do you think they would respond?

Some people would just simply move on with their lives—it’s New York after all, what do you expect? Others may try to bring this to the police or the government, but it’s usually up in the air if they’ll be believed or not. Some might just try to repress that shit, because honestly, life is fucked up enough as it is. Don’t need to add more fuel to the flame, y’know?

But these are just a few possible reactions, all fair and understandable ones. 

So what do you decide to do?

You decided, out of everything, to jam out to ‘70’s pop music while vacuuming the crusty ass carpet at your shitty ass job. 10/10. Top tier coping mechanism. Would 100% recommend. 

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the healthiest way of dealing with all this shit you were going through, but what else could you do? It wasn’t like you could go around telling everyone in New York about large, talking turtles and freaky, DNA-altering mosquitos; you’d just be labeled as one of those flat-earthers, or even worse—one of those ‘the world is ending’ people from 2012… Oof.

So, here was your solution. Fucking ABBA. 

As they sang about men and love and dancing, you glided across the floor with the busted vacuum. You sang along (notably off key), dancing without a care in the world as Jeffery stayed stationed in his booth, scrolling idly through Instagram.

You switched off the vacuum and pulled down your headphones, flashing a quick glance in his direction.

You had yet to tell him about your surprise visit on Monday, Donatello had made it very apparent that no one could know about what you learned during this chaotic week. You understood that, if word got out about mutant creatures roaming the streets of New York at night, it would most definitely send the world into shambles.

But the guilt was eating you up inside. Jeffery hadn’t been the same since your impromptu visit to David’s apartment. He looked, in short, like an absolute wreck. Small bags had developed under his eyes and he talked as much as he used to. (When you first met him, he would not stop bugging you. You hated it at first, but a person can only go so long before becoming absolutely smitten with his friendly personality.)

But worst of all, he started only playing the pop station throughout the day, instead of his usual hand picked stuff. He didn’t even play a single Michael Jackson song. It was terrible, because they would only play the same five top charters, and you were this close to smacking Jeffery’s laptop. You’ve heard enough Ariana Grande in just this week alone to last a lifetime. 

And so you had to resort to plan B, ABBA on full blast through your headphones. So far that night, it had worked pretty well.

You stroll over to his booth, watching his fingers glide over the keyboard with an unmatched speed. You stood there for a minute, and when he had yet to notice your presence, you cleared your throat. 

“No Bee Gees tonight?” You joked, voice sounding horribly flat.

Finally, he tore his eyes away from the computer screen, flashing you an exhausted, pitiful smile. In a weak voice, he spoke.

“Sorry,” he strained his already fake grin, “Guess I wasn’t in the mood to dee-jay tonight.”

Or like, at all this week—but you kept this thought to yourself.

“Hey, it’s cool man. I just wanted to check on you,” you lean back on the fold up table, “You said you need to head out early tonight, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I hope that’s okay? I know you don’t love closing up by yourself but—”

“Jeff, it’s fine,” you rested a hand on his shoulder. “Go. I’ll be okay.”

He looked at you, like he wanted to say something. But instead he gave a firm nod. “Okay.. okay. Text me when you get home, alright? I don’t need another friend to go missing.” 

You felt your whole body go stiff. 

“We don’t know he’s missing.” 

Jeffery narrowed his eyes. “Y/n,” he said carefully, “No one’s heard from him all week. He wasn’t there when we went to visit him.. and I’ve had a very bad feeling about all of this since then.”

Guilt coursed through your veins. If only you could tell him just how right he was. 

“I think we should call the cops. Mr. Cardin won’t do anything.” His hands tighten around his backpack straps, “I’m worried.”

You stay quiet, pondering over it all.

“You can try with the police, I think that’s a good idea.” You finally agreed, folding your arms over your chest. 

“Okay. I’ll.. I’ll figure out something tomorrow.” He nodded. “I’m gonna head out now. See ya’ later. Don’t forget to text me.”

You watched him exit the booth and walk out the front door, before you slipped your headphones back over your ears. Time to forget all your troubles and just drown yourself in the 1970’s. 

You went back to the vacuum and rolled it over to the supply closet, and then moved on to collecting all the trash bags. Slinging one of the last trash bags over your shoulder, you kicked open the back door and hummed to the melody.

“So much that I wanna do! When I dream, I’m alone with you!” You shuffled goofish-ly as you chorused along with the music that pumped through your headphones, “it’s maaaaaaaagicccc!”

You tossed the heavy, plastic bag into the dumpster and drummed your fingers up against the rim. Squeezing your eyes shut, you awkwardly danced to the music and giddily sang out the lyrics. You were completely lost in the moment, happily jamming out in the middle of the abandoned alley.

Because, god, there was nothing better than dancing to your heart’s content while vibing to ABBA. It just could simply not be beat. 

You spun on your heel, eyes still closed, as you started to head back inside to continue your little groove session.

“If you change your mind, I’m the first in line. Honey, I’m still free. Take a chance on me—”

“—Is that Swedish Europop group sensation ABBA?—”

“—HOOOOOOLY  SHIT!” 

Your eyes tore open at the new voice, immediately noticing the towering figure in front of you. Instinctively, your arm cocked back and your fist collided with the silhouette. 

“FUCK!” You blinked at the familiar voice and soon your eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Gasping, you yanked off your headphones.

“Donatello?!”

“Fucking hell— why the fuck did you just punch me?!” He spat out, raising his hand up to cup his cheek. 

“You caught me off guard! I’m sorry I have such amazing reflexes,” You snarled, throwing your hands up in exasperation. 

Bitterly, the turtle rubbed his face and sent a scowl your way. It was all but silent in the alley, the only notion of sound stemming from the music humming through your headphones. As quiet and muffled as it was, it felt like it was pumping heavily into your ears. 

You stared at each other for a moment, before Donatello finally broke the silence.

“…so, was that ABBA?”

“Are you for real? I sock you in the jaw and that’s what you're worried about?” You scoffed in disbelief, completely slack jawed. “Please don’t tell me you were stalking me. Again.”

“Sweet Galileo— I wasn’t stalking you,” he huffed out, glaring down at you, “I was simply in the area, when suddenly I heard the most horrendous rendition of “Take a Chance on Me” I’ve ever heard—so obviously I had to investigate.”

Okay, ouch.. 

You felt your face burn tremendously in embarrassment, but you chose to ignore his comment.

“Right,” you clicked your tongue, “You just happened to be in the are a.. hmm, sounds like something a stalker would say.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake—” he fumed, “What- ever. Say what you like, I don’t care. I have more pressing matters to attend to, so—” he flipped down the bicolored goggles on his head, “—if you’ll excuse me.”

“Suuuuuure,” you drawled out, grinning ever so wide, “What does a creepy turtle have to do this late on a Thursday night?”

Donatello huffed, wincing as he caressed his slowly bruising cheek. “Well, not that it’s any of your business, but I am currently on my way to confront the creator of the oozquitoes about their sudden.. reappearance.”

Immediately, your smile faltered. Any amount of amusement you had felt drained from your system. 

“Oh,” you shifted your eyes towards the ground, “you think he has something to do with it?”

“He’s the one of the few people I know that has any connections to them. Logically, it makes sense that he would be involved somehow.” 

You nodded your head, a chill running down your spine. 

This guy was the reason David went missing. He was the reason that a bunch of infectious mosquitoes have taken over the city. He was the reason some mutant animal came and attacked Donatello in your alley. He was the reason your life has gone to absolute shit in the span of a single week.

You clenched your fists, a bubbling, burning anger churning inside you. 

“Let me come with you,” impulsively, the words came out of your mouth, without any second thought. An instant wave of regret crashed over you, and the baffled expression on Donatello only cemented the feeling. 

“I—what?” 

“I—I dunno, I just—all this shit is happening because of him, right? I just wanna get some answers. My friend is probably dead because of this guy, and I can’t even tell my other friend because word would definitely get out and then the whole world would go to shit. So,” you shrugged, “Yeah, I wanna talk to him. I wanna meet the guy that inadvertently fucked up my life.”

Donatello stared at you for what felt like eons, until finally he let out a long, agitated sigh.

“I—” He paused, looking away momentarily before meeting your gaze again, “..Fine, I suppose I can let you come along. I have a feeling you won’t leave me alone until I agree, anyway—so I’m just going to choose the migraine-less  option.”

You grinned. “Yeah, good choice. If you think I’m annoying now, just imagine what it’s like when I’m actually trying.”

You missed the half-second smile he gave you. 

“Oh god, don’t put that scenario in my head,” he grumbled, rubbing his temple. “Yeah, you can come, but on the condition that you strictly follow my lead.” He hesitated. “The place we’re going isn’t exactly the.. safest place in New York.”

“Oh please,” you scoffed, “I’ve been in the bad part of town plenty of times. I’ve seen it, and I’m not that impressed. We’ll be fine there—”

“That’s not where we’re going,” he quickly interrupted, “we’re going to a place very few humans have ever seen, so I would suggest keeping a low profile. Also, you’ll probably need a weapon in case we run into trouble. You have a good arm, but down there you’ll probably need some with more power behind it—”

You gulped.

A weapon? Oh, fuck no. You were not going anywhere that required you having a weapon.

“..Actually, you know what? I think I’ve change my mind—”

Immediately, he noticed your hesitation.

“—Oh, but you’ll most likely be fine. It’s not like you’ll be in much danger..! Kinda.” He sputtered, “It’s fine. You’ll be fine.”

“I doubt that very much.”

“That’s fair.”

“I thought we were going to see that oozquitoe dude, not—whatever you’re doing now,” you grimaced, watching as Donnie scrambled around an old construction site. This was not how you thought you’d be spending your night, but honestly at this point you really should’ve seen this coming.

From what you knew, a few years ago some company tried building a new headquarters for their business, but ran out of funds not even halfway through the project. So they just left the empty lot with a few support beams, all their leftover building materials, and—most randomly—a brick wall. The exact wall Donatello was currently examining.

You didn’t think the guy could get much weirder, but somehow he kept managing to exceed your expectations.

“We are. Just give me a moment!” He hissed out, flipping up his goggles and sending you a glare from over his shoulder, “I have to make sure this is the right spot—which, it is. So we’re good to begin.”

Begin? Begin what!

Before you could voice your questions and many, many concerns, Donatello extended his hand out, holding it out expectantly as a steel, mechanical arm stretched out from his shell. (Let that be repeated. An arm stretched out of his shell.)

The arm fluidly moved through the air, bending down to drop something into Donatello’s awaiting hand—from where you stood, it looked to be a small, turquoise pendant of some kind. Then, just as quick as it had appeared, the arm slid back into the shell. You stared in utter disbelief, before snapping your attention back to the pendant.

“What's that?” You asked, peering over Donatello’s shoulder in an attempt to get a better view.

“This,” He grinned, holding the pennant up between his fingers, “is our ticket to a place unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Prepare to have your mind metaphorically blown.”

“Cool, that’s great.” You waved off his theatrics, “But how is that gonna get us to Mr. Evil Scientist?”

“Well, if you’d let me work, I’d be able to show you,” he snipped, narrowing his eyes at you. You raised your hands up in surrender and backed away.

“Carry on, then,” you grumbled, as Donatello turned back around and studied the pendant. Taking it carefully, he pressed it to the wall and began sliding it across the surface. 

You let out a small gasp when the pendant began to leave behind a bright, glowing trail, as Donatello slowly drew out a large letter M over the bricks. You didn’t have much time to gawk at the curious blue symbol though, as the bricks slowly pulled apart to reveal a crackling doorway. Around the frame was the head on some beast or animal, with sharp brick teeth sticking out. You looked at the carved animal and tried not to shutter at its looming, stone gaze.

“Excellent,” Donatello smirked, flipping the pendant into the air as another mechanical arm stretched out and grabbed it, storing it back into the shell. He turned to you with a cocky grin and gestured towards the doorway

 “Right this way, if you will.”

The door zapped with energy and electricity, and you stared at Donatello like he was insane.

“In there. You want me to go in there.” 

“Yes..? Was that not obvious?” He asked, craning his head as if he was genuinely confused. 

“You’re crazy. I’d rather get attacked by that mutant thing,” you told him flatly, peering into the void of swirling, sparking blues.

“Oh, don’t be over dramatic,” Donnie waved you off with a scoff. 

You went to respond, but before you knew it, rough hands landed on your shoulders and shoved you inside. You fell through the sea of energy, and were then spat out into an explosion of neon colors. The new, beautiful atmosphere was captivating—with tall, twisting spiers and structures reaching up towards the sky. The area was dancing with ecstatic life and blinding colors and elegant lights. You swore it looked like something from another planet—no, another galaxy . You could stare at it for hours—

Oof.

Suddenly, you face planted into cold, hard concrete, a shockwave of pain sparking throughout your body.

“Uuuuggggghhhhh,” you moaned out in pain, laying in a puddle of your own agony. You managed to peel your forehead off the ground just in time to see Donatello skillfully land in front of you.

“Next time, I get to shove you through a magical, glowing portal .”

He only glanced down at you with an amused smile and crossed his arms as he waited for you to get up. You groaned again and pushed yourself up, your muscles feeling like they were lit on fire. Bringing yourself to your feet, you realized just how ginormous it was here. You gazed around the bright, magical structures, completely slack jawed. 

Donatello noticed your complete amazement and grinned. 

“Welcome,” He outstretched his arms, gesturing out to the colorful world around you, “to the Hidden City, home of the Yokai.”

“Yokai..?” You questioned aloud, looking around at all the strange human-animal-monster hybrids, only now fully registering their presence. (You don’t know how it took you so long to notice them. You blame it on the concussion you most definitely had.) “I thought you said you were a ‘mutant.’”

“I am a mutant, but these are Yokai. There’s a difference.”

Not a clear one, brainiac.

“Now, keep your head down. Yokai don’t exactly love humans around here.” You gawked at him.

“Then why did you fucking bring me!?” you hissed out, ducking your head awkwardly, as Donatello gestured for you to follow him. He began walking along the brick path you had both landed on, and you—suddenly aware of how much you stuck out like a sore thumb—trailed after him.

    “C’mon, he’s just up here.” He informed you, motioning his hand towards a twisting, crumbling staircase that led up to a large observatory. 

    You wandered up the lone pathway, thankful that not many Yokai seemed to travel this way often—though, a part of your brain had to wonder why. Everything looks so beautiful, why would this place be so abandoned. (You hoped and prayed that it was all for good reason, and not because a crazy mad scientist lived inside the weird observatory place.)

You carefully traversed up the cracked staircase, quietly admiring just the absolute size of the place. It all looked to be under reconstruction—you eyed the tall scaffolding and sheet coverings that were scattered around the outside. The place looked like it had been to hell and back. Just what exactly happened here?

Luckily, Donatello seemed to have miraculously read your mind.

He scratched his chin in thought as he peered up at the building. “Huh, thought he would’ve gotten most of this taken care of by now..”

You gave him the side eye. “What happened here exactly?”

He flashed a look your way, he gazed cool and calculating. Then the corner of his mouth quirked upward and soon his loud, arrogant confidence quickly returned. 

“Oh, you know, just some haunted ancient armor that decided it wanted to destroy all of mankind.. Yada, yada, yada—all that boring stuff.. kinda had to be there.” 

Oh. Okay then.

Soon after, you reached the top of the staircase (thank god) and stood before the intimidatingly large door. Donatello reached his fist out, ready to knock on it, when he suddenly turned to face you.

“Oh, and just a forewarning, he technically did attempt to destroy all of mankind, so he maaaaay try to kill you? I think he’s okay now considering he did help us save the world, but honestly it’s a gamble with him.”

You stared at him, jaw dropped as you processed what the fuck he just said. 

“I’m sorry— what?” You hissed. You were still reeling from that destruction of all mankind line he just gave you . 

“Oh, you’ll be fine!” Donnie reassured you, before glancing away awkwardly. “Probably.” 

How you haven’t murdered this turtle yet, you did not know.

You anxiously rubbed your arms for some kind of comfort, your heart threatening to leap into your throat and your rib cage on the verge of collapsing. You already sucked at meeting people, but now you were about to interrogate some crazy scientist who not only found a way to manipulate someone’s genetics, but also wanted to wipe out all of human society.

Yeah, again, fuck thaaaaaat .

Donnie ignored your sharp glare and banged on the door, tapping his foot impatiently as you both waited for a response. 

Deep breaths. Take deep breaths. It’s going to be fine—

“Oh, I should also probably mention that technically he’s kinda my dad???”

“Are you shitting me—”

Before you could even begin to process any of that, the door pulled open, creaking horribly as it revealed a tall, frowning figure. You craned your neck, completely gobsmacked at the large goat man before you. 

You observed him for several moments, something whispering in the back of your mind that—despite how impossible it was—he looked familiar. Though, you have no idea how purple skin could be in any way familiar to you.

The strange sheep man narrowed his eyes, glaring down at Donatello. “What do you want now? ..And who on Earth is this?” You tensed up when his chilling gaze fell on you.

“I—uh..”

“No one important,” Donatello spoke for you, “They are simply assisting me with a small.. project, more specifically the reason we’re here, actually.” Donatello explained, turning to you and gesturing out towards the man. “This is Baron Draxum—the one who created the oozquitoes.”

Ignoring the way his name continued to ring a bell in your head, you stiffened your posture and nodded your head. 

“Hi,” you managed to squeak out, giving a small wave. Draxum hardened his glare. You wanted to jump off a cliff. 

Holy shit. Holy shit, this man was terrifying. 

“Greeting, pathetic human,” Draxum briefly addressed you, before immediately turning back to Donatello. “I wasn’t aware you turtles had more human friends.”

“Ah, well I would more accurately describe us as colleagues.”

You cringed. You and Donatello? You would rather throw yourself off the Empire State Building than be his friend!

You flicked your gaze up at Draxum, noticing how intensely he was staring at you. Nervously, you glanced out of the corner of your eye to see Donatello giving you the most offended, flabbergasted look you had ever seen. Dread suddenly filled your stomach.

You did not just fucking say that out loud. You did not just say that you would rather yeet yourself off a building than be friends with this guy’s son. 

You stammered, nervously pulling at the hem of your shirt as you began to backpedal. “I.. I mean, yeah, colleagues. We’re colleagues. What he said. Colleagues.” 

You pursed your lips, shifting anxiously as you all stood in ear ringing silence. 

“Nice save,” Donatello grumbled, rolling his eyes as his voice dripped with sarcasm. You sent a glare towards him, ready to cock your fist back for the second time that night, when a low chuckle hummed through the air.

You snapped your head back towards Draxum, noting the large grin plastered on his face. He crossed his arms and shook his head.

“Oh, I like this one,” he laughed, immediately enrapturing you in his approval. You had to stop yourself from smiling back up at him, because weren’t you supposed to hate this guy? He did kinda fuck yo your life after all. Why would you care if he liked you or not?

Because ugh— your one weakness: Praise from an adult. Something every mentally ill teenager craves.

The grin on Draxum’s face fell to a thin line as he huffed out a breath of air, and gestured you forward with his hand. “Alright, fine. Come in, but make this quick.” 

He stepped out of the doorway and began walking further inside. You turned to flash a look at Donatello, only for him to scoff at you (you’d like to note how he actually said ‘scoff’ out loud) and stormed past you. With a nervous smile, you followed after him, shutting the large, metal door behind you. 

You both let Draxum lead you down the seemingly never ending hallway. Occasionally, it would branch off to other halls or rooms, but the large Yokai only continued forward. The room Draxum ended up leading you to was not that different from the outside when it came to the constructional ‘decor’. Scaffolding and sheets covered the humongous room. But the most notable thing about it was the large cylinder chamber in the center, the glass horribly cracked and the console around the chamber very much damaged. The whole observatory looked something straight out of a Sci-Fi comic, and the small nerdy part of your soul was internally obsessing over every single detail. 

“Forgive the mess. Repairs have been an absolute pain,” Draxum glared around the room with a disapproving frown. “I can’t believe I’ve let it sit like this for so long.” 

He shook his head, before waving it off with his hand, dismissing the topic. 

“Anyway, what exactly is this project you speak of?”

Donatello immediately straightened out his back. “Ah, yes, of course,” He held his head high and coughed into his fist. “We just wanted to ask you a few questions about the oozquitoes, if that’s alright?”

“The oozquitoes..” Draxum narrowed his gaze down at the turtle mutant, “Well, you’re already here so I suppose I’d have no choice. What do you want to know?”

“I was hoping you could go into further detail explaining what their exact purpose was? And the extent of the mutagen.”

Draxum grimenced. “I suppose I could, but why might I ask? It’s been years since we’ve last had to deal with them.”

Donatello grimenced.

“On the contrary, actually. We recently spotted new sightings of mutants.. and not the ones we’re familiar with.” Donatello corrected, “We think the oozquitoes have something to do with it.”

“They’re.. back?” Draxum hissed out, looking utterly baffled.

“We’ve had a good handful of run-ins so far with the new mutants. At first we thought they were like any other mutant, but these.. are different.”

This caught Draxum’s interest.

“Different how?” He asked with narrowed eyes.

Donatello studied his face, before he began typing on the lit up tablet on his wrist. Suddenly, a blue hologram emitted from the screen, flashing through a variety of humanoid creatures, all beast-like and resembling familiar characteristics of different animals. (Animals such as pigs, hippos, and even a praying mantis flashed by, followed by many others.)

“Well, normally when someone was mutated by the oozquitoes, the alterations seemed to be relatively physical. They still kept a humane level of mental stability and a conscience.” Donatello glanced down at his tablet again, switching to another set of animal, except this time, they appeared more wild looking and lost any humanistic traits. “But these mutants seem more.. out of control, like they’re acting without thinking. So far, it seems like they don’t seem to even understand us.”

Draxum stared down at the images, his jaw tightening. “That shouldn’t be right.. I never made them with the intent for them to behave like.. well—like wild animals..” he snarled out, glaring down at the creatures as they flickered by. “That would’ve defeated the purpose of an army. What good is having warriors if they can’t follow orders?”

Woah. Think we skipped a few chapters, but OKAY—

“That’s what I was thinking! In every other instance, mutants are at least able to communicate, but with these—it’s like they’re more animal than human! Like they’ve lost their—”

Your stomach flipped. “Like they lost their humanity?”

They both turned to you, looking like they forgot you were even there. You were so confused and you’ve never felt smaller. You were so confused and far too tired for this. 

Why were you even here again? 

Oh yeah, that’s right. You really thought you could take fucking John Cena over here in a fight. Like, have you seen this guy's biceps?? Holy shitttttt—

“Exactly,” Donatello finally answered, turning back to Draxum, “It’s like some wild animal, as if it were never human in the first place. It has no thoughts, no personality—just instinct for survival.”

You narrowed your eyes on his still-bandaged arms. 

“Interesting..” Dramux rubbed his chin, “But impossible. They shouldn’t be able to do that. They couldn’t do that.”

Donatello tightened his hands into fists.

“Well, they did,” he hissed out with a firmness to his voice, “I’ve experienced it firsthand. There’s a reason those bugs are back now suddenly, and there’s a reason they’re worse than before. They’re not just creating physical mutations, but psychological.”

You felt sick, your heart drummed in your ear, your chest left like it was going to collapse.

A human was what attacked Donatello. Someone with a life and a family, someone who was probably just living a normal life in New York.. was changed into.. a monster, who could only act on animal instinct. 

The thought horrified you.

“Well, I don’t know why you’re bringing this to me. It’s not like I had anything to do with it,” Draxum huffed, looming around the observatory, “I don’t know if you notice, purple one, but I don’t exactly have my lab anymore! I mean, just look at the state everything’s in! You think this is stable enough to make another generation of oozquitoes?”

“That.. is true,” Donatello conceded, pulling his arm down and switching off the hologram.

“But if it wasn’t you,” you stepped in, “then how are they back? Why are they back? And why are they suddenly behaving differently?”

It was silent, as both creatures failed to answer your questions.

“Could it be some outside source? Like, could someone alter the bugs, or make another variant?” Donatello asked, looking over at Draxum.

The Yokai tensed up. “I—I guess that could be possible. But I don't even know who could even manage something like that!” He stressed, “It took years for me to perfect them. The resources someone would need to have to make any alterations to them in only two years is—it’s just..”

“Whoever is messing with the bugs knows what they’re doing,” Donatello cut in.

“But why,” your voice croaked out, “Why would anyone want to do that? From what you said, the mutations were once only physical—why would someone change it so that whoever was infected just.. lost control? What good does it do for them?”

“I.. I do not know..” Draxum admitted, “I think that just shows what kind person we’re dealing with.”

You began to feel lightheaded.

Draxum let out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I thought we were through with all this after we dealt with the Shredder..” he grumbled bitterly, making you cast a glance towards Donatello. ‘Shredder?’ You mouthed, but he shook his head and dismissed it with the wave of his hand. ‘Another time,’ he mouthed back. 

“I have a few resources I can reach out to, they may know a few things that can help us.” Draxum’s voice cut through the air, immediately snapping your attention back into him, “You said you’ve run into these new mutants, could you go into more detail about that?”

“I can do you one better,” Donatello almost grinned, “I can send you the data I’ve collected from all our previous encounters. After the first time, I thought it would be wise to keep track.” 

“Smart,” Draxum nodded, “Send that to me as soon as possible, I can handle the rest from here. I’ll keep you updated on the situation, but I think I have a good idea of what’s going on.”

The mutant and Yokai stood before each other with intelligent and focused stares. 

“Thank you, Draxum.” Donatello said earnestly, holding out his hand, “Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”

Draxum smiled, small and almost unnoticeable, and took his hand, giving a strong shake. “It seems only fair that I take care of the mess I made.” 

You watched from a distance, brows furrowed with confusion. Donatello said that Draxum was his dad, but they seemed more like business partners rather than father and son. But in a way, it was a touching sight to see. 

An empty, gaping hole in your crest clawed its way deeper into your heart. You swallowed down the building lump of emotions in your throat and big the inside of your cheek to distract yourself. Not now. Not here.

Draxum then led you both back towards the front entrance.

“Give Lou and the orange one my greetings, I haven’t seen much of your brothers very recently.” He hummed out, a notable smile on his lips as he stood in front of the doorway.

Brothers? Your interest peaked.

“Of course, Micheal will be glad to hear from you. Now with this whole mess of our hands, I’m sure he’ll be back here in no time.”

“Very good,” Draxum nodded, before turning towards you. “Human, it was a pleasure meeting you. I must say, I was surprised to see that you weren’t that other girl they’re always with.. what was her name again..? Alpes? Apple?..”

As he pondered over it, something clicked in your brain. You don’t know what it was, maybe his voice? Maybe the look on his face? Either way, everything made sense and you knew where you recognized Draxum.

“The lunch lady!” You gasped out, pointing an accusing finger at him in realization.

Donatello stared at you with disturbed, confused eyes. “..what—”

“You’re that new cafeteria lady from last year! Oh my god, how did I not recognize you!” You grinned wide as you recalled all the moments you had seen him around the school campus. You quickly spun to face Donatello, grabbing and shaking him by the shoulders. “You didn’t tell me the oozquito guy was our lunch lady!” 

Donatello lightly shoved you away. “Well, I don’t know —” he stammered, “—you’re only recognizing him now?”

“Uh, well, I did think he looked a little odd at first—”

“And you didn’t question way a guy with purple skin was serving your school lunch!”

“I thought he was forgien or something! I didn’t wanna be rude!” You exclaim, throwing your arms over your head, “Excuse me for being polite.”

Donatello opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by someone erupting into laughter. You both turned to face Draxum.

“I thought you looked familiar,” Draxum snorted, roughly patting your back—nearly knocking you over. “You were that kid who ran into the vending machine on the first day—”

“WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT THAT.” You quickly interrupted, but it was too late. You could already hear Donatello’s chuckling. Your ears burned with embarrassment.

“Shut up. I punched you once today, I can do it again.”

Donatello raised his hands up in surrender, smiling wide.

You both waved goodbye to Draxum and headed back down to the small platform you had arrived on. You took one final moment to admire the hidden city in all its colorful glory, when you felt your foot hit something. You glanced at the ground and spotted your headphones right in front of you, busted and broken. 

You gingerly picked up the destroyed headphones. How did this even—

You quickly recalled your descent from the portal earlier and how you didn’t remember having them with you when you walked up to the observatory.

Oh.

You started down at them, a mixture of anger, disappointment, and frustration swirling inside your chest. This week had already been so.. so horrible and stressful and miserable, and now this happens .

Before you can do anything though, the headphones were suddenly plucked from your grasp. You shot your head up to find the thief, only to see Donatello closely examining them. 

“Hmm.. oof, yeah, these guys took a hit.. no problem, I could probably get these fixed within.. nmm.. a couple of days,” Donatello shrugged, casually dismissing the issue like it was no big deal.

“Fix? No, dude, you don’t have to do that,” you sheepishly replied, going to take them back—only for Donatello to pull them just out of your reach.

“Nonsense. I fix my brothers’ shit all the time. It’s not like it would be difficult or anything—and if you wanted, I could implement my own Donnie Tech. Trademark pending . I could add all sorts of improvements, maybe a heating system for colder weather—winter is coming up you know—or maybe add Bluetooth—because seriously, why are you not wireless yet? C’mon, it’s the twenty-first century. Oh! And I could definitely improve the audio quality, because no matter how expensive the brand is, after a good year or so they always start malfunctioning more often—”

You couldn’t help but smile as you watched him rant—mostly to himself—about the upgrades for your headphones. It was kind of funny seeing him get this excited over it. 

“Okay, okay!” You reluctantly stopped him, grinning wide, “Fine, you can fix them. I guess it would only be fair since you were the one that pushed me.”

“Excellent!” He grinned, “It’ll be good to have a small side project to work on.” He continued looking at the headphones, completely lost in his own head.

“Just don’t go too overboard, Einstein,” you laughed, “They’re only just some cheap headphones after all.”

“Don’t you dare say that. Overboard is literally my middle name.”

“Pfft—okay,” you shook your head. “Can you take us back now, please? I’m pretty sure I have a concussion or somethin’. ”

“Yeah, yeah,” he shook head, approaching a small stone wall you hadn’t noticed before. A mechanical arm slipped out of his shell and placed the pendant from before into his palm. 

“I just have one question.” He hummed out, flipping the pendant into the air and catching it. You cocked an eyebrow up at him. 

“How the fuck did you run into a venting machine— OW, FUCK ME!”

“What did I fucking say.”

With a bitter frown, Donatello rubbed his bruising shoulder and drew the strange M symbol on the stone. It lit to life with a sparkling baby blue energy.

“I knew I shouldn’t have brought you along…”

Chapter Text

You flapped your hands anxiously as you paced back and forth near the main entrance, trying your best to keep your breathing even. For Christ’s sake, you met a weird goat man last week—you should be able to talk to one goddamn human being!

After two weeks of no sign from David, Mr. Cardin had finally made the decision to replace him. The day after your adventure into the Hidden City, he had made the announcement to the rest of the staff. You didn’t really know how to feel about it. You were more than overjoyed for the extra help, but a part of you couldn’t shake the guilt of knowing why he really wasn’t showing up for work.

But at least you weren’t like Jeffery, who took the news harder than others. He was upset—and confused. He had informed you of how he’d gone to the police, but they completely ignored and dismissed his case. And that— that had pissed him off. 

And then Mr. Cardin made the announcement, which only added more fuel to the fire that was Jeffery building rage. You were by no means skilled in comforting others, but you hated seeing him so conflicted. In a mix of sympathy and guilt, you had made an attempt and asked if everything was okay. He ended up snapping at you, ordering you to back off. 

And so you had, letting out a startled apology and scurrying away.

You didn’t talk much after that.

Your boss then spent the whole weekend looking for a replacement, and before Monday morning, someone was hired. 

Oh yeah, and you were the one tasked with showing them the ropes. Yay.

So here you were, quietly panicking as you waited for the new hire to arrive. You trained your eyes on the ground, tracing over the dozens of colorful shapes in the outdated carpet in an attempt to calm yourself. You had been waiting for a good few minutes, and you were slowly dying from the anxiety and anticipation. You were just ready to get this over with. 

The front doors pushed open. You looked up.

“I’m so sorry I’m late! I missed the stupid subway—”

“April?” You gaped, feeling absolutely floored.

“Oh, hey!” April greeted with mild surprise, straightening out her jacket as she walked inside. 

“I—uh, hey! What.. brings you in?”

“Oh, right! I’m here for the job? I talked to some guy over the phone yesterday and he said I could come in and start today—“

“You’re the one who applied?” You impulsively jumped in, before mentally kicking yourself for interrupting her.

Luckily, she didn’t seem too bothered. 

“Yeah well, I was kinda in between jobs, and I saw the ad online and thought ‘why not?’, y’know?” 

You nodded, struggling to know what to say. 

“I gotta, uhm, run you through a few things real quick before we get started, if that’s okay?”

She gave you a friendly smile. “Alright then,” she gestured to you, “Lead the way.”

And that’s how April O’Neil became your coworker.

It was hard at first getting over your nerves,  but April had been kind throughout, which you were grateful for. You realized you weren’t easy to converse with, and you appreciated that she seemed to understand that. She had no issue picking up the conversation when you failed to hold it, and she was always so light and cheerful. You couldn’t help but absolutely adore her company. 

Though, one thing you didn’t expect was how.. odd she was—in a good way! But she was just a bit.. quirky. Although you’d argue that that added more to her character. (Besides, who were you to talk? You literally went to an underground city last week.)

But as much as you liked her weirdness, there were just a few things you couldn’t shake.

For example; one evening you had been cleaning off a pair of rental skates that a child returned. Somehow, they had gotten covered in some weird, sticky substance and you didn’t even have a chance to ask what it was before the kid ran off. So, you busted out the Clorox wipes and got to work—that is, until April’s phone started ringing. You picked it up off the counter and turned back to the shelves of rental skates. 

“April?” You called back to her.

She finished the row of skates she was reshelving and turned to you. “Yeah?”

“Someone’s calling you.” You answered, looking at the vibrating screen, “…some guy named Donnie?”

Donnie. The name felt familiar to you, but you couldn’t place where you’d heard it. As the name nibbled at the back of your brain, April dropped what she was doing and rushed over to you, quickly taking the phone.

“O-oh, it’s just one of my brothers, I’ll call him back later,” she waved you off, hiding the screen from you and declining the call.

Brothers?

“I didn’t know you had brothers,” you mused, turning back to the skates you were cleaning. 

“I like to keep my work life and family life separate,” She joked, clearly deflecting your comment. You laughed nonetheless and decided not to say anything more on the subject.

Another time, the rink had been rented out for the night for a birthday party. Unfortunately, little Birthday Boy Timmy’s mom was a humongous Karen. It was a tiring evening having to deal with her, but you managed to pull through with April’s assistance. 

“I’ve had my fair share of Karens in my time.” She bragged as you both prepared to bring out the birthday cake, “Did I ever tell you that I worked at Albearto’s?”

“You mean that weird, robot pizzeria place?” You asked, trying to recall the so-called ‘restaurant’, that really just felt like a knock off, real life Freddy Fazbear’s. (Like, c’mon. They were both robot bear mascots that belonged to pizzeria arcades.)

“Wasn’t that the place that— ..blew up?”

April noticeably stiffened. “Uhm, yep!” She nodded stiffly. “Caught fire over some open wires for somethin’! Crazy, right?” She chuckled, sweat beading on her forehead.

“I heard about that,” you nodded your head, handing April all the paper plates, plastic forks, and napkins that had been brought in for the party. “But I’ve seen some conspiracies that the animatronics went all batshit and stuff,” you missed the horrified look April sent your way as you continued on, “But I dunno if that’s true. Doesn’t seem very realistic.” 

You held back a snort. Realistic; you say that as if you hadn’t met a funky goat man or punched a humanoid turtle dude just the other week.

“Yep! Veeerrrryyy unrealistic,” April gulped, “Where do people even come up with this stuff? Ha!” She coughed into her fist. “Anyway, I ended up getting.. I mean—I ended up quitting before that happened. Yep. That's toooootally what happened. I wasn’t fired or nothin’. And it tooootally didn’t have to do with the place shutting down.”

You chortled, though you were honestly a bit confused of her joke.

Oh—and then one day, all night long you swore you were hearing things. You’d occasionally hear a little bark or whine that sounded reminiscent of a dog, or sometimes spot the movement of a tail from the corner of your eye, but when you’d go to check it out, nothing would be there. 

You were more than convinced an animal had been let into the building, but when you approached April with the theory, she quickly shut you down. Animals don’t just suddenly disappear and reappear! But you insisted and she nervously assured you that she would keep an eye out.

Not too long after that, you found her crouched over her backpack, quietly mumbling to something hidden inside it.

“Go home,” she hissed into her bag. You took a step forward. “You know you can’t be seen—”

“..April..?”

Immediately, she whipped her head around to look at you. “Y/n! Hey..! What’s—what’s up?”

You shifted a glance towards her bag. “Is.. everything okay—”

“YEP.”

You had decided not to push it, even if that whole interaction was weird as fuck—

When you checked by later, you noticed there were only a few stray pens and pencils, and a couple of notebooks in her bag. If there was nothing in there, then who was she talking to..?

Like you had said— she was odd.

But you liked that aspect of her. It made her all the more interesting. And it felt nice to no longer be the only ‘weirdo’ you knew. 

Soon, it was the end of April’s first week. Things had gotten much more relaxed between the two of you, and you’d even hung out a bit on the way to and from work. You honestly were so happy to be working shifts with her, it felt nice to have someone who was just as much of a nerd as you. (You learned that April was a huge fan of the supernatural and that was enough for you two to get into a long tangent on all the different Sci-Fi series you knew.)

Everything was going so well with her, and you couldn’t be more excited. And as odd as she was, April was still normal. Well, normal in your standards. Which was probably what scared you the most about her.

Because now you had a friend— and you were terrified of messing it up. You didn’t want her finding out about any of the fucked up shit you knew. About the yokai that lived under New York, about the deranged mutants roaming the city, about the infectious oozquitoes that could turn you into one of those deranged mutants.  None of it—she could know about none of it.

Because you couldn’t even imagine her reaction if she knew. You only knew that it would lead to you being friendless again, and that was enough to motivate you to keep those horrible weeks behind you.

No Yokai, no mutants, no fucking oozquitoes. 

You wanted to forget all of it. 

You both began to close up early for the night, wishing for a quick start to the weekend. Since Jeffery had been gone (he had stopped taking night shifts for some reason), you had managed to hook your phone up to the speakers and had set the motherfucker on shuffle. That was your first mistake.

One minute it would play Taylor Swift, and then Weezer the next—and then some song from Phantom of the Opera (you didn’t even have musicals on your playlist, so how that happened—you did not know).

“Okay, I am very concerned about your music taste,” April commented, tying off the last garbage bag. 

“Rude.” You huffed, reaching over to pause the song. “my music taste is excellent, thank you very much.” You leaned over and held out the phone to her. “If it’s that bad, you play something then.”

“Wow, so dramatic,” April clicked her tongue, grinning as she began searching for something to play. “It’s time to expose you to good music.”

Immediately, Madonna began blasting through the speakers. You held your stomach as you began cackling. Of course April was a Madonna fan. 

“Why are you laughing?!” She gawked, giving you an offended look, “Ugh, you just don’t appreciate the perfection that is ‘Borderline.’ If you knew you wouldn’t be laughing at me.”

“I’m not—I’m not laughing,” you insisted in between hiccups, “I’m not laughing at you, I swear.”

April narrowed her eyes at you, clearly not confidence, as you took the garbage bag in her grasp and slung in over your shoulder.

“Hmmm.. sure.”

You trudged to the back and kicked open the alley door, still fairly hearing April sing along with Madonna in the background. You grinned, you honestly should’ve known she liked Madonna.

You stepped out into the alley, a warm feeling spreading throughout your body despite the cool, midnight air. (Even in the summer, New York weather could still be a bitch.) 

You tossed the trash in the dumpster and reached up to pull down the flimsy, plastic lid—apparently some raccoons were getting into the garbage or something, you weren’t too sure what was up. Mr. Cardin simply told you to shut the dumpster when closing up from now on, so that’s what you’d do.

A sigh escaped through your nose as you stared at the brick alley wall. Closing your eyes, you rested your forehead atop the dumpster lid. 

Everything has been so crazy lately, and you hadn’t realized how exhausted you were. This week was the first time since you helped Donatello that felt.. normal. You hadn’t thought about the previous two weeks hardly at all. It was almost like it never happened.

You thought back guiltily to Jeffery, then to David—

But this wasn’t your fault. You shouldn’t be guilty for something you couldn’t prevent, something you didn’t even know about. And you shouldn’t feel guilty for how Jeff had been taking everything. You’ve done what you could, but you just weren’t good at this sort of thing. 

There was nothing you could do. It was out of your hands. And, god willing, you’d never have to deal with that whole oozquitoes mess ever again—

“What the hell are you doing? Please don’t tell me you're dying, because that would be very inconvenient for me” said an unenthused, monotone voice as it cut through your thoughts, making your eyes snap open.

Instincts took over, making you spin around quickly and cock back your arm. You slung your fist forward, but it never managed to make impact. 

“Jesus! What is it with you punching me?!” Donatello snarled, holding your fist in his hand, effectively blocking your attempted assault.

You blinked up at him with owlish eyes. You then yanked your hand from his firm grip. 

“What is it with you scaring the shit out of me?” You fired back, glaring daggers at him.

Donatello studied you. “Touché..” 

You frowned, crossing your arms defensively over your chest. “ What do you want?” You seethed.

“So rude,” he tsked, shaking his head, “and I’ve even come bearing gifts!”

You furrowed your brows. “Gifts?”

“Yes, ..or had you forgotten?” Donatello smirked, reaching his hand back towards his shell and pulling out a pair of headphones. 

You stared down at them in shock, because yeah, you had forgotten. Carefully, you took them from his grasp. They were slightly bulkier now, and LED lights had been added to the sides, illuminating a bright, purple glow. 

Of course, it was purple.

“I know you said not to go overboard but— Ah, I couldn’t help myself.” He puffed his chest out, a prideful grin on his face. “I must say—making a new hardware for it was quite the challenge, but nothing Othello Von Ryan couldn’t handle.”

“Wait—you mean you made these? Like actually?” 

“Yes? Your old pair was unfortunately too busted to fix properly—and was honestly very outdated. Like I said, twenty-first century. Everything’s wireless now. You desperately need to get with the times.” He shook his head again, like he was embarrassed for you, “I also added a couple of new features, including that heating system we discussed— as well as my malware detecting Donnie Blocker, in case you happen to connect them to a device infected with viruses—”

You paused, tuning out the now rambling Donatello as you circled back to the Donnie Blocker. It sounded familiar to you, but you didn’t know why. .

“Wah-wait,” you interrupted him rant, “What’s a Donnie Blocker?”

“I thought I just explained that,” Donatello furrowed his brows at you, visibly annoyed. “Were you not listening? No, no, don’t tell me. I understand. You’re simply so blown away by my impressive enhancements to your puny headphones that you fail to fully wrap your head around my genius. It’s okay, it happens to the best of us. Well.. not me, but you get the idea,” he boasted, stroking his own ego.

“Sure..” you rolled your eyes, “I didn’t realize you were so—inventive. You really made this?”

“I make all my tech. Wouldn’t exactly be ‘Donnie Tech. ™’ if I didn’t, now would it?” 

“I guess not..” you said, remembering that he had called it that during your trip to Hidden City. You guessed that’s where you heard it. (But something still felt off…)

You examined the headphones once more, now finally processing that he had actually built these. He didn’t just buy a cheap, new pair from the mall. He made them. By hand. What the fuck.

Hesitantly, you placed them around your neck. A low humming warmth radiated off the headband, sending a shiver down your spine. Holy shit, he wasn’t joking— he actually put a fucking heater in your headphones.

How—

Words failed you as you fought for something to say, because you were honestly incredibly impressed—but the last thing you wanted was to feed his ever growing ego. 

“You’re speechless, I can tell. I know, you don’t need to tell me. I’m amazing.” He gloated, an arrogant air wafting around him. 

You went to tell him otherwise, when suddenly the back door kicked open. Your stomach dropped. Your face paled. 

“Yo, Y/n! We forgot a— ..a bag.”

You peered over Donatello’s shoulder, your eyes landed on April. No, no, no, no—fuck! This wasn’t supposed to happen. You had completely forgotten she was even here.

You looked back at Donatello with panicked eyes, and when his gaze found yours, he quickly looked behind himself. His body stiffened immediately.

No one said anything at first, until April opened her mouth. 

This was it. This was the end of your new, blossoming friendship. So much for having a good, normal week. So much for having a friend for once. 

“Y/n—” April started in an uneasy tone, you braved yourself, “—I can explain..”

You noticed the desperate, anxious look in her eye, and suddenly you were confused. Explain? What did she have to explain? You should be the one explaining!!

“I—what?” You stammered out, mind running blank. “No, I—”

“April? What are you doing here?” Donatello asked, absolutely flooring you.

“Uh, I think I should be asking you that!” She argued, “I started working here this week, remember Donnie? I told you while I was helping you make that new hardware system thingy.” 

Donnie? Hardware?

You froze. The phone call, this was who was calling April. This was why she started freaking out. Because a fucking mutant turtle was calling her.

You rested your hand on the headphones hanging off your neck. “You two—you two know each other?” You asked, glancing between the pair.

“I—well, uhm—yeah,” April admitted, “But please just listen, I can explain everything—” she stopped, her eyes flicking to your neck. “Wait, where did you get those from?”

You glanced down, looking at the glowing purple shining from the headphones.

“Where do you think?” You asked with a slight smile.

April gasped. “You two know each other?! Why didn’t you tell me!” She hissed at Donatello. 

“What? So I have to tell you about every single person I meet now?” He retorted, folding his arms over his plastron.

“When it’s one of my friends from school— yes.” 

An electric spark ran through you at the word friend. That was the first time April had even called you her friend. Her friend. She considered you her friend. Like, officially.

“You have friends? Shocking.”

“WHY YOU LITTLE—” April cut herself off, somehow managing to restrain herself. You don’t know she did it, honestly—because you personally would not let that slide. April let out a sigh, seemingly relaxing herself.

“How did you two meet anyway?” She asked, with a curious look in her eye. 

You shared a look with Donatello, before you both looked back at her.

“They found me in the alley—”

“I hit him with my car—”

You shifted awkwardly as they stared at you.

“Wha—do you even own a car??” 

“I panicked okay?! I didn’t know if this was a whole sorta secret situation going on!” You defended.

“So you thought telling her you hit me with a car was better ?!”

“Well, when you say it out loud..”

Donatello faceplamed. “And I thought Leo was a moron…” he grumbled to himself, making April snort. You didn’t get the joke. 

“Well, how did you two meet?” You asked, giving April a quizzical stare. 

April returned it with a menacing grin. 

“I hit him with my car.”

You snickered, giving her a fistbump. “Hey, twins—”

“What is it with you two wanting to run me over?!”

You walked down the surprisingly abandoned New York streets with April and Donatello, finding an odd humor in their company. You chose to remain quiet as they argued over pointless and meaningless things, and you had silently wished you’d brought some popcorn from the rink. 

“That’s it— next movie night, I’m not bringing those chocolates I know you like,” April threatened, pointing a sharp glare up at the mutant.

“How dare you use my sweet tooth against me.” Donatello shamed her, “And I thought we were friends.”

“This is what you get for being wrong.”

“But I’m literally not?!”

You didn’t even know what they were arguing about at this point, you were just enjoying the show—until April turned to you.

“That reminds me, me and my girls—Sunita and Casey—were wondering if you’d wanna hang out at my place this weekend? We were just gonna watch a couple movies or something, but we wanted to know if you’d like to join us?”

You blinked, still completely dazed.

“You.. wanna hang out?” You asked carefully, uneasy and unsure.

“Yeah! We might make it into a sleepover kinda thing but eh, we don’t really know. Are you in?”

You hadn’t hung out with many people in your life, especially people your age. What was the protocol for this sort of thing? What were the rules? She said you’d be hanging out at her place, did that mean you needed to bring a gift or something? No, probably not—from all the sitcoms you’ve watched, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Besides, what would you even bring? Flowers??

“Okay,” you breathed out, “Sounds like fun.”

April beamed and clapped her hands together. “Yes! You won't regret it, we’re gonna have a blast!”

You approached the corner of the street you were on, and April suddenly stopped. 

“Well, this is the way back to my place. I’ll be seeing you guys! I’ll text you the details later, y/n!” Then, just like that—she was off into the night.

You watched her retreating figure before looking over at Donatello. He looked back at you with a bored expression, before he raised his eyebrow. 

“Well?” He prompted, gesturing before you to continue walking. 

You stared at him for a moment, before doing just so. You fought to hide your surprise when he trailed along after you, easily keeping with your pace. You didn’t say a single word to each other as you journeyed back to your apartment. It was silent all throughout, but you found you didn’t entirely mind that. 

The cold nipped at your face, and you quietly became grateful for the heater Donatello added. Music softly pumped through your new headphones, playing just low enough for only you to hear as they hung from your neck. You’d rather die than let him know this, but you were honestly very impressed with Donatello’s work. 

Eventually, you had arrived in front of your apartment building, and you were a bit disappointed that your quiet stroll together had ended—it was a nice change to not walk home by yourself. It was nice having company—well, it would’ve probably been nicer if it was someone other than Donatello, but you knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

“Thanks for, uh, walking me home.” You awkwardly muttered out, scratching your cheek. Donatello shrugged his shoulders, looking away.

“Eh, it’s whatever. I didn’t feel like leaving a poor, defenseless human to walk home all by themself tonight,” he snickered, giving you a mean, teasing look.

“Oh har, har,” you snarled, crossing your arms in a childish manner. “You’re very annoying, y’know that?”

“Why thank you. You are much too kind,” he grinned, bowing with mock grace.

“Pfft—” you attempted to hide your laughter. “Alright stalker, I’ll see you around.” You grinned up at him, moving to open the entrance doors.

“Really? I thought we moved past this,” he scowled.

Your smile grew wider. “Nope!” You chirped, going to open the door. But then a thought flashed through your mind, and with a new wave of boldness, you turned back to the him.

“Hey, you got a phone?”

“Uhm, yeah?” He answered like it was obvious (and maybe it was—just a bit.)

“Lemme see it,” you instructed, holding out the palm of your hand.

“And why would I do that?” Donatello stared down at you with a dull expression.

“Just hand it over!” 

With a moment of hesitance, he did. You weren’t surprised when you saw his purple toned case. You went to his contacts, typed at the screen, sent a quick text and handed the phone back to him. You felt your phone vibrate in your pocket.

“Cool,” you said, “I added my number to your contacts. Feel free to text me whenever, or don’t. I don’t really care.”

Donatello only stared at you in response with a contemplative look, leading you to give him a lopsided smile

“See ya’ around, Donatello.” You waved, turned back towards the door again.

“See you,” you heard him say back in return. You pulled open the door when he spoke again. “And.. uh,” you paused, looking back at him over your shoulder. He was silent for a moment before he met your eye. “You can just call me Donnie.”

You blinked once or twice before nodding again. 

“Noted,” you gave him a small, tired smile. “Night Donnie.” 

Then you walked inside, letting the door shut behind you, the music from your headphones continuing to hum through the air.

“Last night, I was fine,

Droppin’ lines and gettin’ mine,

This goal, bet it’s a role,

Smokin’ kine and actin’ so disgraceful,

Woah-oh, she know that time is on my side,

Woah-oh, she know she’s lost control,”

You sucked in a breath and double checked the apartment number, your grip tightening on the bouquet of flowers in your hands. The nervous butterflies fluttered inside your stomach and you were more than positive you were about to pass out from the anxiety. 

After procrastinating for a few more minutes, you finally knocked on the door. You were then immediately greeted with a frowning, unfamiliar face.

“..Uhh.. hi?” You offered a small wave to the girl as she stared you down harshly. 

“Who are you?” 

“Oh! Uhm.. I’m y/n..? April invited me. Is she.. here?” You asked, chewing on your lip. The girl kept her glare on you and you desperately wanted to jump off a bridge. 

“I—uh, brought flowers,” you awkwardly held out the bouquet, “and snacks.” You slung your backpack full of chips and candies and other assorted treats off your shoulder, holding it out to her as a peace offering.

The girl flicked her gaze onto the flowers, and then the bag. In the blink of an eye, she swiped the snacks from your grasp and began digging around. After examining the contents, she looked back up and nodded to herself, silently contemplating what you assumed was your fate. 

“Hmm.. These snacks are.. ADEQUATE!” You jumped back when she suddenly stuck her hand out towards you. “GREETINGS Y/N. I AM CASSANDRA, BUT YOU MAYBE CALL ME CASEY.”

You flashed glances between Casey and her hand, before finally giving it an uneasy shake. “Hi Casey.. Nice to meet you too.”

Casey only gave a curt nod of acknowledgement before she yanked her hand away and swiftly walked inside, leaving the door open for you to follow her.

Well, so much for first impressions.

You scurried inside, trailing after Casey into the living room. She stopped in front of the coffee table and proceeded to dump out all of the contents. Snacks covered every in of the table, with some even tumbling onto the floor. (Okay, so maybe you went a little bit overboard with the food..)

You looked around the apartment and noticed no sign of April.

“Uhm.. hey, where are the others?” You asked, rubbing your arms to try and ease your nerves. 

“April and Sunita went out to get the pizza. I will grab us some refreshments. MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME.” You flinched back as Casey marched off towards the kitchen, abandoning your bag onto the floor. Sighing, you bent down, picking up all the fallen treats and placing them back onto the coffee table. You remembered the bouquet in your hand and with some quick decision making (and a sudden wave of teenage embarrassment), you hid it under the coffee table.

Casey soon returned, holding two cans of soda. 

“We only have Pepsi and Sprite.” She huffed out, “PICK ONE.”

Pursing your lips, you spared a glance up at her and then at the two drinks.

“Uuh.. Sprite, I guess.” You said, reaching out your hand to take the soda, only for it to be violently thrusted into your grasp.

“EXCELLENT CHOICE.” Casey nodded, before taking her Pepsi and punchering a hole in the top with her thumb. Then she began chugging it.

“Uhh.. Hey, Casey?” You gulped, glancing down at her hand.

She only continued chugging the drink, tilting her head all the way back until it was completely empty. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and looked at you.

“YES?”

“I think.. I think you're bleeding..?” You point down at her hand.

Slowly, Casey peered down at her thumb, examining it like it was an ancient artifact. 

“OH.” She finally said.

“Do you want me to get some bandaids or..?”

Before you could even finish your sentence, Casey wiped her hand off on her jeans, staining them effectively.

“I am fine. THANK YOU FOR THE OFFER.”

You took a step away from her. “No problem..”

Then the front door slapped open.

“We’re baaaack!!~~” sang out a familiar voice. You let out a small sigh of relief when your eyes landed on April. “Oh, y/n! Hey, sorry, I didn’t think it would take us so long to get the pizza. Hopefully Casey didn’t give ya’ too much trouble,” she grinned, shooting a teasing look at Casey.

A familiar looking girl poked her head over April's shoulder, giving a much more concerned expression. “Is your hand okay..?”

“IT IS FINE.” Casey answered.

April narrowed her eyes, staring down at Casey’s still bleeding thumb. She clicked her tongue, shaking her head before she turned to the girl beside her. “Naaah fam. Sunita? Here, take care of the food. Let’s get that cleaned up, okay Case?”

“OKAY!” Casey agreed, letting April lead her towards the bathroom.

You watched them leave before turning back to the other girl, who you found looking right at you. 

“Hi! It’s y/n, right? It’s so nice to properly meet you!” She beamed, stiffly sticking out her hand towards you as she balanced five different pizza boxes in the other. “I’m Sunita. I’m so happy you could come!”

Immediately, you felt at ease. You smiled back and shook her hand. 

“I—uh, yeah! It’s nice to meet you too!” You said, “Oh—heh, and I actually brought some snacks over. Uh—” you looked back at the coffee table, “Lots of snacks. I forgot we were getting pizza.”

“Ooh! Good thinking,” Sunita nodded, glancing over at the pile of chips and candy. “There’s no way this pizza will last the whole night.”

You flashed a look at the five boxes of pizza, but didn’t say anything. Who knows, maybe they all just have an appetite?

“I’m gonna take these to the kitchen, mind lending me a hand?” Sunita asked, tilting her head towards the towering stack of pizzas in her arms.

“Sure,” you couldn’t help but smile, taking three of the boxes off the top and letting her lead you out of the living room. 

April and Casey soon returned, and the girls quickly got into a heated debate over what movie to watch first. 

“No, Casey. We’re not watching Punch Chowder again. We watched that last time!” April exasperated, slumping further down the couch. You quirked your head up at the name, as Casey’s lips curled into an exaggerated frown. 

“What about a horror movie?” You dared to suggest, knowing that scary movies were a staple in movie nights.

“Ooh, yeah!” Sunita immediately agreed, bouncing happily beside you.

“Nah, I’m not really in a ‘shit my pants’ kinda mood. What about that terrible rom-com that came out last year?” April offered instead.

“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just suggest that,” Sunita quickly replied, eyeing her down before throwing her head back against the couch. “UGH. Can we just pick something already? The pizza is getting cold.”

“Well, does anyone have any other ideas?”

You all sat in silence and stared at each other.

…

You all ended up watching Parks and Recreation. 

You don’t know how or when or why you settled on a sitcom—it just happened. 

Barely managing to finish off your sixth slice of pizza, you watched as Leslie desperately tried to get April and Andy to see how hasty their decisions were and call off their marriage. But of course, it was all futile. 

At some point, you had all forgotten about the show and began chatting idly with each other as you snacked on the many treats of the coffee table. The conversation ranged from different events from the previous school year, to the latest gossip, to a quick game of ‘Never Have I Ever’—which revealed some.. interesting things about Casey. 

(“Okay, okay. Never have I ever stabbed a man.” “Dude, that’s a terrible one. You have to come up with something we’ve all probably done!” “Haha! Sorry… HA! Good one Casey. You can pull your finger back up now.” “Why?” “..Because you only put a finger down if you have shot a man.” “But, it is down.” “…” “Casey, what the fuck—”)

You didn’t play that for very long.

After a bit, things settled down and you all simply relaxed amongst each other’s company. April had played music from her phone at a low volume (Madonna, of course) that filled the calming silence.

You noticed on occasion how Sunita would glance back and forth between Casey and April, but you didn’t say anything. It didn’t concern you too much, until you found her looking over at you.

“Hey y/n, wanna see something cool?”

You cocked an eyebrow up at her. You missed the uneasy looks on April and Casey.

“Uh, sure,” you shrugged. 

She grinned immediately and reached for the broach on her dress.

“Sunita wait—”

She plucked off the broach within the blink of an eye, Sunita was replaced with a slimey, green version of herself.

“Wha—!” You jumped, tensing away from her slightly, instantly making her burst out laughing. 

“Oh my god,” she snorted, turning back to the others, “Look at their face!”

“Sunita! I told you to wait for my signal!”

“Ah, it’s fine! You said they already knew about Yokai.” She waved April off.

“I said they went to the hidden city like, once. I wanted to ease them into this! They’ve only met Donnie after all!”

“I—you’re a Yokai?” You managed to ask Sunita. She nodded, smiling ever so wide. You turned to Casey. “Are you one too?”

“Nah, she’s all human,” April answered for her.

“Though she did join a cult!” Sunita quickly added.

You snapped your head back at Casey. “What.”

She shrugged, “in my defense, they had a great membership show discount.”

“Yeah, yeah—whatever footface,” April snickered, looking back over at you. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t.

Midnight had come and gone, and you found yourself sprawled out over April’s bed, staring up at her ceiling as she you sat on silence. Just outside, in the living room were Casey and Sunita—now back in human form—curled up on the couch together.

You chortled and April shushed you, bringing a finger to her lips and nodding her head towards her room. You followed her, right after you both took thousands of pictures. 

“I’m sorry,” April spoke suddenly, making you look over at her. 

“Huh?”

“I didn’t wanna overwhelm you tonight. We were just excited there was someone new who was like, cool with all this.” April sighed, looking away from you, “I guess I was kinda excited that someone.. more like me, y’know?”

You smiled. “Yeah, I get that.”

“I mean—I love the guys, and Casey and Sunita? There my girls! My number ones! But I don’t really have any.. human friends. Well—I guess Casey is, but.. heh, well you saw her.”

“Right. The cult, explain that to me again?”

“It’s a long story,” April said instead, waving her arm up carelessly through the air. She let out another sigh. “I thought that since you knew Donnie and the others, you’d might like to meet them.”

You paused. “The others?”

April froze up and looked over at you. “Y’know.. the guys?” You furrowed your brows. “Raph? Leo? Mikey??”

You shook your head. 

“You haven’t met the guys?!” April gasped, sitting up on the end. You guessed you hadn’t, so you shook your head. “Oh my god, I'm gonna strangle Donnie the next time I see him.”

You laughed, and April quickly joined you.

“Speaking of, did he give you any trouble the other night? I asked if he’d make sure you got home alright because—well, I dunno if he told you but—”

“But there are these weird oozquitoes are going around and turning humans into uncontrollable mutant animals? Yeah, I know.” You mused, looking away.

A bitter taste filled your mouth. So that’s why he walked you home. It made much more sense that he was forced by April to stay with you rather than doing so out of the good of his heart. (You were totally convinced he didn’t even have a heart.)

“Ah, yeah.. that’s been a whole mess.” April nodded, laying back down and folding her hands over her stomach. “Anyway, we’ll have to bring you down to the lair to meet the others. Maybe sometime next week? Maybe after we close up on Monday?”

You hummed out in agreement, though you weren’t really listening. You could feel your eyes beginning to shut. Letting your mind slowly switch off. 

Then suddenly, a new, heavy weight crashed onto your chest.

“HOLY SHIT—” 

You shot up, looking at what landed on your stoamch. It was a.. was it dog? A cat? You honestly couldn’t tell. It looked back up at you with wide, excited eyes, it’s tail wagging happily.

“Mayhem!” April scolded, picking up the dog-cat creature and setting it on her lap, “Bad boy, bad.” 

The blue, red, and yellow furred animal looked up at her with a giant pair of puppy dog eyes, and April huffed.

“Ooh.. I’m sorry, I know.. I completely forgot to get you, hadn’t I?” She looked over at you, “I wanted you to get used to Sunita and Casey before I introduced you to Mayhem... but I guess I forgot to get him once we got that all sorted out.”

She gave you an apologetic look, but you snorted.

“Ah, it’s fine,” you waved her off, reaching over to scratch Mayhem’s chin. You noticed the two small tusks poking out from his mouth. As odd as he looked, he was super adorable. “What.. is he, anyway?”

You glanced back over to April, only to find her passed out on her bed. You breathed out a laugh and settled back down beside her. Mayhem got up and settled between the both of you, and not long after that, you were out like a light.

Chapter Text

You stared up aimlessly at the ceiling, studying the old, plastic stars that you had stuck on there. They had been up there for.. how many years now? Since middle school probably. Over the years, some of the plastic stars had fallen off, but for the most part, they held up pretty well. You remembered scouring through your dozens and dozens of astronomy books to find the perfect constellations to copy around your room, and how excited you had gotten when you saw the finished product. It was your glowly, plastic masterpiece.

A bubbling frustration churned in your stomach as you brooded heavily, loud music pumping through your headphones. A dull taste of bitterness filled the never ending void that was your loneliness. Why couldn’t things just go your way?

Your aunt was a busy woman. She often worked many long and tiresome shifts at the hospital to provide for the both of you, and whenever she got a night off, it was seen as a rare commodity—and something you both truly valued. So when she informed you that she’d be taking a night off this week for you two to have a movie night, you were immediately ecstatic and quickly clamored with your boss to also give you the night off. 

However, Mr. Cardin was not as lenient with your schedule as you hoped. But after bugging him about it for three days straight, he had finally agreed to let you leave a few hours early. So tonight, with the blessing of your boss, you bidded Jeffery an absentminded farewell and hurried home as fast as that stupid subway would take you.

But when you pushed open the apartment door and called out excitedly to your aunt, you were greeted with silence and her noticeable absence. Confusion was quickly replaced with a sharp, painful anxiety as you rushed inside. Your throat tightened with emotion. Where was she?

You froze in your panic immediately when you spotted a lone yellow sticky note on the kitchen counter. You were quick to snatch it up and read it over.

Had to cover for someone at the hospital. Sorry for the short notice. There are leftovers in the fridge. Don’t forget to eat! Love you!

Your adrenaline evaporated instantly, and quickly a sinking weight of crushed disappointment filled its place. Of course, you had thought bitterly, how foolish of you to think that maybe you guys could have one night together. 

You ended up crumbling the note up and tossing it in the trash, before checking the fridge for the leftovers your aunt had mentioned. After poking at the leftover pasta you found for half an hour, you trudged back to your room and flopped down onto your bed—leading you to where you are now, sprawled out over your mattress, with boredom and frustration slowly eating you alive. 

 You continued recounting all the constellations you had drilled into your brain all those years ago, trying to ignore the twitching in your muscles that was begging you to do something other than laying in bed all night. Finally having enough of the curdling rage in your stomach, you decided to solve your loneliness.

You sat up and pulled on your sneakers.

—

Hugging your jacket closer to your body, you wandered down the near abandoned streets, futility attempting to keep yourself warm.  If there was one thing you hated about New York, it was the cold midnight weather. How could it be so cold during one of the warming times of the year? Though, admittedly, you weren’t as bothered as you usually would’ve been thanks to the aid of your new headphones. 

With music playing softly through the speakers, you nodded along to the beats and hummed out the lyrics as you strolled down the sidewalk. Just like on the night they were first broken, you were lazily singing along to ABBA as you showed off your spectacular dance moves to the empty street.

“Whatever happened to our love? I wish I understood~” you hummed, shoving your hands deeper in your coat pockets. “It used to be so nice, it used to be so good..! So when you’re near me, darling, can’t you hear me? S. O. S!”

You grinned to yourself, making up ridiculous dance moves as you continued down the sidewalk. The song carried on for a bit, before eventually fading out into another one. You carried along to the melody, scrolling idly through your phone as you struggled to stay entertained.

Maybe April was free to hang out? 

You found her contact quickly and pressed the call button next to her name. It took a moment for the line to pick up. 

“Y/n! What’s up?” 

You grinned almost instantly at the sound of her voice.

“Nothing much, just taking a walk downtown. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out a bit? I’m bored out of my mind.” You groaned, throwing your head back dramatically.

“Aah.. I’d love to but— oh SHIT, dude put that out!—” April’s voice suddenly pulled away from the speaker, becoming faint as she yelled at whoever she was with. After a minute, she returned. 

“I swear to god, if you start one more fire tonight—I will kill you,” April hissed out on final time before speaking fully into her phone again. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

“Uhm, hang out? Did you wanna..—”

“Oh!” April’s voice perked up, before she hesitated. “Oh. Actually I can’t right now. I’m helping Donnie with some project of his, and well, let’s just say things aren’t exactly going.. great..”

You bit your cheek. “Oh, well that’s okay. Do you know if Sunita and Casey are free?”

“I know that Sunita is with her dad right now in the Hidden City right now, but you can try calling Casey! But she may be working right now, so I dunno—” April was then cut off by a faint explosion setting off in the distance and someone screaming—presumably Donnie—bloody murder.

“APRIL! I request backup. I repeat, I require backup— AHHH HELP HELP HELP—”

“GAH- how did you—?! Y/n, I’m gonna have to call you back—” then the line cut off.

Welp. They’re definitely dead.

You scrolled down your contacts to continue your search for companionship. 

You skipped over Donnie’s name, knowing for sure that he was unavailable. And also like, uh— no thanks. The guy may have fixed your headphones, but that didn’t mean he was a nice guy or anything. If anything, he probably did it just to show off and fill his ego.  (That didn’t mean you weren’t impressed—because you were. But like you’d let him know that…)

You stared at his contact and grimaced. Honestly, you don’t even know why you gave him your number in the first place. More than anything, it felt more like a peace offering, like saying “Hey, I don’t really like you and you don’t really like me, but it seems like we keep showing up in each other’s lives, so we might as well just deal with it.” Though, even if you were the one to ‘propose’ this made up truce, you didn’t know if you’d be able to hold yourself to it.

Accepting your defeat in spending another night alone, you went back to Spotify and selected some random song to play in the background as you continued your walk. 

As you carried on with your stroll, you passed a small alleyway and casted a quick glance its way. It was one of those alleyways that cut through to the other side, with multiple abandoned trash cans and old cardboard boxes and garbage bags (gross). 

You turned back to the sidewalk, but froze when you noticed quick movement from the corner of your eye.

“What the—” you bristled, staring intensely inside the alley when one of the aluminum trash cans suddenly began to rattle. You blinked when you heard a faint chittering sound, and immediately your mind flashed back to the dumpster at work and how your boss had instructed you about keeping the lid closed. 

“To keep those goddamn raccoons out of my trash. I swear, if I ever see those little sons-a-bitches—”

You hadn’t actually seen these said raccoons until now, so with curiosity swiftly replacing your previous caution, you stepped into the alley and watched at the trash can tipped from side to side. Eventually, it leaned too far to one side and clattered to the ground with a sounding clang. 

You jumped back, craning your neck in an effort to get a better view of the creature inside. You stared at the trash can for a moment, watching as a small, furry animal crawled out from it. You grinned at the sight of the fat, chittering raccoon as it looked around thoughtfully, remaining blissfully unaware of your presence. You chuckled to yourself as the animal scavenged through the freshly tipped over trash, making you pull out your phone.

You shook your head, grinning wide as you snapped a couple photos of the raccoon. Eventually though, the raccoon picked up on your presence and scurried back into the shadows. You watched it scamper away and to the other end of the alley, escaping out onto the next street on the other side. You smiled after it and looked back down at your phone again, looking through the photos.

You’d have to send these to the girls later, Sunita will love them—

You stopped.

Your stomach dropped to the ground and your legs screamed at you to run and your heart was drumming in your ear. But you didn’t move. You didn’t move as a hot, damp breath fanned across your neck. A shiver tickled down your spine. Dread filled your veins. Every hair stood on end as a thousand thoughts raced through your mind.

Slowly, you turned around.

You didn’t know what it was exactly. It was tall, holding a good three feet over you as it towered above. Its eyes were beady black that just barely held any light in them. Its fur was mangled and muddied, and its claws gleamed with a sharp glow. 

Heart pounding out of your chest, you frantically willed your feet to run, to move, to do something. It wasn’t until the creature let out a low, hungry growl and lunged forward did they finally get the memo and book it down the alley. 

You sprinted down to the opposite end of the alleyway, trying desperately not to trip on the forgotten cardboard boxes and old, littered trash. You reached the other end in record time and skittered to the side as you made a sharp turn, dashing down the middle of the street. You didn’t have to look back to know the creature was chasing you, and that only encouraged you to push harder as you raced down the asphalt. 

“Fuck this, fuck this, FUCK THIS—” You shrieked, clutching your phone tightly as you ran. The ground shook beneath your feet and you knew it was beginning to catch up to you. In a desperate attempt, you slid into another alleyway, urgently ducking behind the dumpster and hiding between trash cans and boxes. Noticing how heavy your breathing was, you hastily slapped a hand over your mouth as you huddled into a ball. 

It was silent. 

Had you lost it? 

You waited a moment more as you continued to silently panic, trying desperately to think of a plan—when an annoyingly familiar spoke from your hand.

“Yell-low,” an agitated voice hummed from your phone, “you are conversing with Donatello.” 

You stared down at your phone screen with absolute horror. “Donnie?” You choked out in a hushed tone, peaking around the corner to try and spot the creature. The coast seemed to be clear. “Dude, now is not the time! What do you want?” You hissed.

“Uhm, you called me?” Donnie snipped back through the speaker, “I should really be asking you that.”

You glanced back down at your phone for a brief moment, frustration bubbling inside you. “Yeah well, it was an accident. Kinda got my hands full at the moment—”

Before you could finish, something grabbed at the hood of your jacket and yanked you from your hiding spot. You dangled in the air for a split moment before you were thrown back against one of the brick walls.

“GAH—” you yelped, limbs flailing in the air as you fell back onto the pavement. Every bone in your body felt as if they were on fire as you lifted your head off the floor. “You fucker!”

“Y/n?” Donnie’s voice hissed faintly in the distance as you slowly pushed yourself up. You looked over, seeing your phone just a few feet away from where you landed. “What’s going on?”

You attempted to reach out for it, when you felt a large, sharp paw grip onto your leg and pull you up into the air again.

“ OOoohh— I’m gonna throw up,” you moaned, letting your arms swing above you (or was it below?). Blood rushing to your head, you tried using all the core strength you had (which wasn’t a lot) to claw at the grip around your ankle. The monster’s nails dug into your skin, making you involuntarily cry out.

“Y/n? Y/n, are you okay?!” Another voice cut through. 

“Ay—April?” You gasped out, before turning your attention back to the creature. You lifted up your free leg and slammed it into the animal’s stomach, effectively making it loosen its grip. You yanked your foot out from its claws and crashed back onto the ground, scrambling to your hands and knees as you grabbed your phone. Immediately, you dashed out of the alley and started running down the sidewalk. 

“Y/n! Are you alright? What’s going on?!”

“Oh, everything’s just peachy! About to get mauled by a rabid badger thing! Couldn’t be better! How are you?” You seethed into the speaker, puffing out a breath as you ran down the street, trying desperately to ignore the sharp, crying pain that hissed throughout your leg.

“What?! Y/n, where are you?”

“Well, I—”

“Wait, did you say ‘badger’?” Donnie cut in. “..Oh no.”

“ ‘Oh no’?! Donnie, that is not what I need to hear right now!” You turned the corner onto another street, noticing that the badger wasn’t that far behind you. “I’m turning on thirty-first!”

There was a short pause.

“Alright y/n, Donnie’s got a hold of your location. We’ll be there as fast as we can, okay? Just hang tight.”

“Well, I’ll try— gah!” You felt a large, hairy arm loop around your torso and pull you back, and before you knew it, you were tossing back onto the road. You slammed against the concrete, a sharp pain throbbing through your body. 

Tears stung in your eyes as your vision became horribly blurred. A new wave of agony filled your senses, but you barely had time to process anything when you suddenly felt a crushing weight slam against your chest. You choked out a gasp as the creature gripped its claws onto your shoulders.

“FUCK!” You hissed out, trying to kick at the animal’s belly. “Get— get off me, you fucker!” 

You let out struggling hiccups as you fought to breathe, thrashing under the monster’s tight hold. You looked up at its face, into its drooling, gaping mouth as you squirmed against its hold. You pushed and kicked as much as you could to delay the inevitable, but the adrenaline pumping through your veins was rapidly depleting, and you didn’t know how much longer you could last.

Hours felt like they had passed as you felt your arms and legs slowly folded under the pressure. Your head was throbbing and the world was spinning and your body felt like it had been lit on fire. You squeezed your eyes shut, blinking back tears.

With your life in the balance, you were just about to let your body collapse and allow the creature to win the struggle, when two distinct battle cries cut through the tension.

“Fibonacciii!”

“April O’Neeeiiiillll!”

Suddenly, with a great, winding force, the creature was knocked off your aching body, jetting back and crashing against one of the many closed and abandoned shops on the street. 

You took quick, shaky breaths, as you peered at the two figures hovering over you.

“Holy shit,” you gasped, resting your head back against the concrete.

“Oh, good,” Donnie gazed down at you with a bored, monotonous voice, “you’re not dead yet.”

“Unfortunately,” you grunted, as April crouched down, resting her bat on the ground to help you sit up. You carefully pulled your leg up to your chest, glancing it over. You were surprised to see so much red.

Immediately, April noticed your ankle.

“You good?” She asked, a flash of concern and painc shining in her eyes.

“Just dandy,” you grimenced, wincing when you accidentally touched one of the cuts. You looked up at Donnie. “Wanna tell me what that thing was?”

“Well, what do you think it was?” He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest, “It’s the mutant that—”

“…That attacked you that night? Yeah—” you gasped a breath, “Yeah, I figured. Just double checking.” 

Donnie didn’t respond, and when you looked up at him, you found the mutant staring off into the distance, eyes narrowed on something. You followed his gaze just in time to watch in horror as the creature pulled itself off the ground. Donnie tightened his grip on his tech-bō.

“We need to get out of here,” he hissed, looking back down at the both of you with a grim expression. 

April turned to you. “Could we head to your place to lay low for a while?”

You paused for a moment, before shaking your head. “It's too far. I don’t think I can run all that way,” you glanced down at your foot.

“Okay,” April breathed, “Okay, then what about the lair?

She turned to Donnie, putting the attention on him.

Donnie stiffened. “Absolutely not.” He dismissed the idea almost instantly.

Your brows furrowed. Lair?

“Why not? It’s not too far from here!” April insisted, “We can escape down through the sewers—!” April insisted again, pulling you to your feet. You leaned against her shoulder for support. 

“I’m sorry— the sewers?” You hissed, gawking up at her, but she didn’t acknowledge you. She just continued to stare down Donnie.

He opened his mouth to respond, but glanced away after a moment, his eyes widening at something behind you and April.

“Move!” he ordered, knocking you both out of the way and blocking the oncoming attack of the mutant. He twirled his staff skillfully between his hands and lunged forward, battling with the beast.

“Donnie!” April called out, grabbing onto her bat.

He glanced back momentarily at the two of you, before turning his attention back to the badger just in time to dodge one of its attacks.

“Okay, fine!” Donnie relented with a huff, fighting back against the mutant’s weight with his bō. “Fine. Whatever! We’ll go to the lair!” He spat, twisting his staff to knock the creature away. “Just run! I’ll be right behind you!”

You opened your mouth to say something (probably to voice how crazy this all was), but April beat you to it by curtly nodding her head and pulling you along. 

“Come on!”

It took you a second to find your footing, but soon you were able to keep up with her as you raced down the asphalt. Suddenly, she yanked you by your sleeve into another alley and dropped down to a manhole on the ground. As she dug her finger under the iron-concrete cover, you peeked back out into the street. Just them, you watched as Donnie managed to knock the mutant back enough to give him a chance to escape. His head shot around as he searched for you and April, leading you to step out of the shadows and flag him down. His eyes quickly fell on you and soon he started making his way over. 

You limped back into the alley to see April lift up the cover. She looked over at you and you met each other's eyes as Donnie slid into the alleyway.

“Well??” He hissed, “What are we waiting for? I didn’t exactly hold it off for long!”

April glanced at him, but turned her attention immediately back to you. Her eyes trailed down to your ankle.

“Do you think you’ll be able to climb?” 

You studied her for a moment. “Climb?? Uh,” you followed her gaze down to your foot and grimaced. Your ankle looked as if it had been put through a paper shredder. “I mean.. Maybe?”

April frowned. “Well, let’s hope so. I’ll go first.”

You watched with confusion as April began to climb down the manhole. 

“Yes, yes, please do! It’s not like we have a giant mutant after us or anything!” Donnie griped, throwing his hands in the air.

When April’s head disappeared down the manhole, you limped towards it. 

“I just.. go down?”

“That is how a manhole works, yes.” Donnie glared down at you, “Now please, continue to take your precious time while our lives are at stake!”

“Alright, alright!” You clicked your tongue, lowering yourself down into the manhole, gripping onto the iron ladder for dear life. You climbed down after April, biting your cheek as you barred through the pain shooting through your foot and side. 

Once you were low enough, Donnie followed after you. You watched him dip his head as he pulled the cover back over the hole. You all held your breath as the ceiling shook. You could faintly hear the sound of the mutant sniffing, but soon everything fell to silence. Donnie glanced down at you and April and nodded his head. You continued downward.

April reached the bottom quickly, jumping off the ladder with a thud. It shook the railing a bit, causing you to tighten your grip and hold on for dear life as you took careful step after careful step. 

“Jesus, could you hurry up? We don’t have all night!” Donnie hissed, glaring down at you.

You quickly returned it. “Well, sooooorry! Next time, I’ll try not to get jumped by a raging, crazy badger—”

You placed your bad foot on the next bar, when it suddenly slipped off. You lost your grip on the ladder.

Soon you found yourself on the ground, staring at the ceiling high above and noticing all the stars spinning in your vision. A new, thundering pain stabbed at the back of your head.

“Oh, my god!” April cursed, running to your side, “Y/n? Are you okay??”

You rested a hand on your side. “Am I dying? I think I’m dying.”

Donnie skillfully jumped the rest of the way down, landing perfectly on the floor before he stalked over to the both of you. He examined you for a moment with narrowed eyes before he flicked down his goggles.

“Well, they’re not dead.” He murmured, lightly kicking your non-injured foot with his own. “Get up so we can go ahead and get this over with.”

April glared up at him from where she was crouched and smacked his leg. Donnie didn’t respond, and April slowly pulled you up, letting you lean against her for support again.

“I’m pretty sure I broke something,” you confessed as you limped down the sewers, following Donnie’s lead as he steamed ahead.

“Walk it off.” 

As Donnie trudged forward, you stared at the back of his head, mapping out the perfect spot to ram your fist into.

You weren’t sure what you were expecting when you laid eyes on the lair. You certainly didn’t expect it to look as..— homey as it did, considering you had to walk through a whole ass sewer system to get there. 

On the way, April had gone on a great, long tangent, talking about the old one they had, before it had gotten destroyed by some dude named Shredder. The name immediately struck a familiar chord in your mind, as you fairly remembered Donnie mentioning him once—back with Draxum.

But before she could elaborate, Donnie sent a look her way and that quickly shut her up. 

“Okay, as long as we stay away from the projection room, we should be in the clear..” Donnie murmured under his breath, gazing around the area with diligent eyes as he led you through the lair. April snapped a glare his way.

“I still don’t get what the whole issue is.” She sniffed, as you all slipped past an area that you assumed to be the kitchen. (How the fuck did they get a whole ass fridge down here.) “How come y/n can’t meet the others?”

“Have you seen how they behave around other humans?” Donnie snipped back, guiding you to a large, metal door. You noticed the small touchscreen on the side and watched as he pressed his hand against it. With steam rolling out from the cracks and crevices of the doorway, slowly it pulled itself open.

You made quick care to close your dropped jaw when you walked inside. Because holy fuck. You thought Draxum’s lab looked like a real life Sci-Fi comic—but this? This was a new level of mad scientist.

“Unfortunately, yes I have,” April eventually answered, helping you onto a stool Donnie had laying around. It was stiff and uncomfortable, but it was better than standing, so you took it. 

“April, I have a first aid kit stored in my desk. Could you fetch it while I look them over? I’ll check and make sure nothing’s broken.”

April responded with the nod of her head, giving you one final smile and a rub on the arm before rushing off to another part of the lab. Once she had left, Donnie wasted no time getting to work.

“It’s your leg that’s bothering you, correct?” He asked, cracking his knuckles. You shifted your arms back over your stomach, giving yourself a small hug. 

“Yeah,” you nodded, “It’s being a real bitch right now.”

Donnie looked at you, a small flash of what you thought was amusement showing through his eyes before he flicked down his goggles.

“Noted. I am going to do a quick once-over on everything to make sure it’s all in order. Is it alright if I touch you?” 

You stared up at him for a brief moment, but found it hard with his goggles on. 

“I—Yeah, sure,” you fumbled, shifting your eyes toward the ground as Donnie crouched down to your leg. He held your ankle in his hands, immediately sending a sharp pain through your system. You winced.

“Ow.”

“It wouldn’t hurt if you would stop moving.”

“It wouldn’t hurt if you would be more careful.”

Donnie shot a glare up at you, but the scowl on his face shifted when he studied your face. He hesitated a moment, before looking back down at your ankle.

“Sorry,” he mumbled half-heartedly, though you doubted that it was actually genuine. Then after a moment, he sucked in a breath. “It’s been a stressful night.”

You rolled your eyes. “Oh, you’ve had a stressful night? You’re not the one who got attacked by some crazy mutant badger! It’s been a stressful night!” You squawked your voice in a poor imitation of him, “Can you ever stop being a massive— OW.”

You snapped your head back down at him.

“Oops.” You didn’t miss the obvious grin on Donnie’s face. You glared down at him, a slow, burning rage boiling in your chest.

“I just watched my life flash before my eyes, so kindly fuck off tonight, yeah?” You huffed out, staring down at his annoying forehead. Suddenly, Donnie snapped his gaze back up at you. You grimace at the red and blue lenses.

“Now you know what it’s like to walk in my shoes.” He hissed out, “If you remember correctly, that thing attacked me first.”

You fumbled back, staring at his dumb face are you tried to think of something to retort.

“You don’t even wear shoes!” You argued.

Donnie leaned away, clearly not expecting that kind of astonishing comeback.

“You don’t know that!” He defended.

“Then put those god forsaken dogs away.”

“Make. me.”

You lifted up your hand and hovered it over his face, giving his large forehead a good flick. 

“Ow!” He hissed, pulling away from your ankle to cover his head with his hand. He glared at you through his goggles, but you only looked away and strained an innocent smile. 

You felt him stare at you for a moment longer, when April suddenly appeared with the first aid kit, grinning wide as she held it high above her head.

“I fooouuuunnndddd it!!” She singsonged, weaving her way around the cluttered mess than was Donnie’s lab. “So what’s the diagnosis, doc?” She jested.

Donnie flicked up his goggles and typed away at his wrist-tablet.

“Well, the good news is that nothing seems to be broken or fractured. Definitely sprained however, but I wouldn’t be too concerned. Overall, it’s just surface level injuries that we can treat easily.”

You trailed your eyes on the floor. “Well, that’s not too bad, I guess—all things considered.”

Donnie observed you for a moment, before taking the kit from April and starting on patching up your leg.

“Hey, at least nothing broken or anything! I’m sure we can fix up that foot in no time,” April cheered, looping an arm around your shoulders.

You flashed her a weak smile but looked back down again. “Yeah. Still hurts like a mother though.” You mumbled slightly, as April gave you a small side hug.

“Well, maybe we have something laying around that can help.” April suggested, leaning over to look at Donnie. “Hey Don, do we have any painkillers that y/n can use?”

Donnie finished off cleaning all the blood on your leg and brought a hand to his chin. “I was just thinking about that. I think I do have some in the back.. hmm.” Suddenly, he clapped his hands together. “S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.!” He loudly called into the lab.

You casted a glance towards April, raising a confused eyebrow. She only responded by holding up a finger, signaling you to wait. You did, noticing a low humming sound rumbling in the distance.

Then, out from the clutter appeared a small, purple hover drone, with four spinning fans keeping it airborne. You froze instantly at the sight of it.

“What is up, my dudes?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. greeted cheerfully, before looking in your direction. “Oooh! We got a newbie in the house? How’s it hanging, man!” He hummed in front of you.

“Uuh.. hi,” you gave the robot a nervous smile, giving him a weak wave. “Nice to.. meet you?”

A soft, pleasant beeping sound dinged from the drone, before it hovered over to Donnie.

“Greetings S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N., do you think you could find those antibodies I was working on? I can’t seem to remember where I placed them.”

“Sure thing, daddy-o! Be back in a flash,” And just like that, he flew away back further into the lab. You turned back to the others and did your best to hide your amazement.

“Lemme guess, you built him?” You asked Donnie, the corner of your lip quirking upward. Immediately, he puffed out his chest in pride.

“One of my greatest inventions,” he bragged on the little robot, grinning wide.

“Cool,” you breathed out, “He’s cute.”

“I know, right?!” April squealed next to you, “He’s legit such a sweetheart. Oooh! And just wait till you meet Mikey! You two would get along great—”

“April,” Donnie interrupted, shooting her a nasty glare. April quickly returned it. 

“What? You just wanna hide y/n from them forever? You don’t want them knowing you have other friends? Y’know they won’t care, Dee.”

“We’re not—” Donnie cut himself off, “Look, I don’t have to explain myself! Why do you care so much if they meet the others? It’s not like they’re gonna hang around long enough for it to matter.” He huffed, reaching for some gauze in the first aid kit and wrapping it around your leg.

You stared down at him as he acted like nothing happened. What does that mean?

As a new, awkward silence imbedded the lab, you silently prayed to the stars above that S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. would hurry his little robo ass up.

Luckily, your prayers were heard, because soon you could faintly hear the familiar humming from before.

“Back!” He chirped, balancing a small cylinder container on his head. 

“Eh—excellent,” Donnie cleared his throat, finishing up your leg and standing up again. He grabbed the pill container, glancing at it for a moment before patting the little drone’s head “Perfect. Thank you, S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. You’re free to return to whatever it is you were doing, if you wish.”

“Alright, bro! Just call if you need me!”

You gave S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. 

You flashed S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. a quick, weak smile as he disappeared back to where he came from. He technically couldn’t smile back, but by the way he let out a tiny beep when he looked at you, you knew he had returned it.

“Okay, y/n,” Donnie turned to you, twisting open the cap, “These are painkillers that I’ve altered to help with a quicker healing process. They are completely and totally safe, though their legality is.. questionable.” You stared up at him with wide eyes as he poured two small pills into the palm of his hand.

You turned to April. “Is he trying to kill me?”

She looked at you. “Maybe,” she shrugged.

“I’m not,” Donnie stressed, “..yet. But I assure you, these only have very common and very minor side effects. You should be totally safe taking them.”

“I should be?”

Donnie only blinked at you and held out the painkillers. Letting out a sigh through your nose, you took the pills and threw your head back. 

“Ugh, I hate this,” you groaned, “Can y'all show me the way out now? I’m this close to collapsing and I just wanna go home.”

“Oh yeah, sure thing. You need help walking back?” April asked, helping you stand up.

“Nah, nah, nah.. I think I got it now—” you pulled away from April’s arms but soon found yourself falling face first into the floor. “..Ow.”

You heard one of them snort, but you didn’t know who. Though, you had your suspicions.

“Okay, yes. Help would be very nice.” You mumbled into the ground, as April grabbed your arm and wrapped it around her neck.

“Oof—Donnie, give me a hand, yeah?” You heard her ask, before you felt your other arm being grabbed.

Once you found yourself no longer on the floor, you sent him a glare. 

“Not. A. Word.”

Donnie flashed a quick grin before replacing it with a look of innocence. You grumbled to yourself as him and April guided you out of the lab.

You couldn’t exactly focus as April and Donnie carried you through the lair, exhaustion finally taking over. Every muscle in your body felt so sore and you’d never been this tired in your entire life. You just couldn’t wait to make it back to your own bed and sleep for the next several hours.

“We shouldn’t have to worry about the others, I’m sure they’re all passed out by now.” Donnie mumbled as you passed the.. what did he call it before? The projection room? Yeah. Yeah, the projection room.

“Of course they are, have you ever seen them make it through any of our movie marathons?” April snorted quietly. “But seriously Don, what’s the big deal if y/n meets your brothers? Why do you care so much—”

“I don’t!” Donnie whispered over your head (you didn’t have the energy to keep it upright anymore), “Look, can we talk about this later? Please?” He hissed.

“Fine,” April huffed, “But don’t blame it on me when they eventually find out—”

April was cut off by the sound of something clattering to the ground. Simultaneously, the others snapped their necks towards the direction of the commotion, while you slowly craned your neck to get a better view. 

you all look to the side to notice a figure standing in front of the entrance of the projection room.

You found a bowl of half finished popcorn on the ground and trailed your eyes up towards a shadowy figure standing in front of the doorway of the projection room, finding small hints of blue.

“Uuhhh…”

“Leo?!” 

The hold on your arms loosened and you found quickly yourself colliding with the floor again.

You know that scene in every sitcom where the whole family is gathered in the living room, with the angry parents are seen towering over their children on the couch, staring at them until the poor kids crack and confess how much they really fucked up?

Yeah well, that was definitely you, April and Donnie right now, surrounded by three, angry turtles. Donnie’s brothers—you would have to guess.

It was silent, dead silent. No one dared to say anything, and you couldn’t will yourself to meet any of them in the eye. They were waiting for an explanation and you were waiting to get your asses handed to you. You were at a standstill, until luckily, the large, red one finally cracked and broke the ever growing tension. 

“Alright, will one of you explain why y’all are sneaking a stranger around the lair in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah, and why do you all look like you’ve been to hell and back?” The blue one—Leo—quipped, getting in your face momentarily before looking over at Donnie, “Don, you’re not kidnapping humans to experiment on again, are you?” 

That immediately made you turn to the mutant beside you. 

“Again??” You hissed under your breath.

Donnie glanced at you, before shrugging his shoulders.

“It was only a couple times,” he waved you off, “and, no, Nardo, that was just a phase.”

“Then who are they?” The orange who piped up, peering down at you. That question turned all three turtles’s attention onto you, causing you to sink further into the old, crusty couch you had been forced to sit on.

“Guys.. this is y/n. They’re a friend of mine,” April explained cautiously, “We ran into a mutant on the surface and had to bring them back here.”

The red one stiffened. “Don’t tell me it was another of those freaky ones..” he flicked his gaze sympathetically at you for a split second, before looking back between April and Donnie.

You flashed your eyes to the ground, avoiding everyone’s gaze as silence consumed you all once again.

“Ah, jeez..” you heard the orange one mutter, causing you to look over at him. Instantly you met his eye, making you shrink in on yourself, but you were surprised when he gave you a kind smile. You couldn’t help but return it.

Then, his eyes light up with a sudden excitement. “Oh! We haven’t introduced ourselves have we?” He questioned, glancing at his brother.

The red one grinned over at him, showing off his snaggletooth. “We haven’t,” he nodded, turning back to you. “The names Raphael, but you can call me Raph,” he said, holding out his giant, three fingered hand.

You stared at it for a brief moment, surprised by the sheer difference in size with your hand compared to his. Flashing a nervous smile up at him, you took his hand and watched as he carefully gave your arm a single shake. 

“..Nice to meet you, Raph,” you gave him an earnest look. 

“Right back at ya’.” He nodded, before pointing over at Leo, “This over here is Leo, and over there is—” Raph was then promptly shoved out of the way by the blue turtle.

“Hey, hey, hey! We can introduce ourselves, thank you very much!” Leo whined, leaning against his brother's shoulder before looking over to you. “It’s Leo, but friends of April and my big brained brother can call me Leon—”

“For the last time, we are not friends—” Donnie’s quick comment was ignored and interpreted when the orange turtle knocked Leo away.

“Yeah, like anyone actually calls you that.” He teased, nudging him lightly, before clapping his hands together. “Alright, alright! My turn—hi! I’m Mikey,” he grinned, hovering over you. You noticed his eyes fall to your neck and the surprised look that flashed over his face.

“..Wait, is that Donnie tech? Haha! How’d you get him to make you something like that?” He asked as you looked down at your headphones. Throughout all the chaos, you’d completely forgotten about them. You slid them off your neck and looked them over worriedly, exhaling a sigh of relief when you saw there was no damage done to them (how they remained completely unscathed? You did not know). 

“Uhm, well.. my old pair broke and he just kinda offered to fix them..? I dunno,” you shot a confused look over to Donnie, but he was busy staring down a stain on the sofa. 

“Really, now?” Leo cooed, immediately snapping Donnie out of his daze.

“Yes, Leo,” he hissed, “Is it really that hard to believe that I can perform generous acts of kindness?”

“When it’s coming from the guy who only fixed my phone once I bought him a whole large pizza from Hueso’? Yeah—yeah, it’s pretty unbelievable.” Leo grinned, before looking back over at you. “So, what’s your deal? How’d you get roped up with these two?”

“Uhm.. well, me and April go to school together, and uh, I met Donnie when I found him in the alley knocked—”

“Knocking on the entrance to Run of the Mill! The portal wasn’t working correctly and they found me stuck in the alley,” Donnie interrupted, quickly making your neck snap towards him.

You opened your mouth to question his outburst, when he sent you a warning glance. You stared at him down, but slumped back and nodded. 

“Yep,” you hummed, “He’s been a thorn in my side ever since,” you seethed, giving him a harsh glare as he narrowed his gaze back at you.

You'll never get this guy.

“Really?” Mikey piped up, immediately grabbing your attention, “And you don’t care about—well, this whole situation? You weren’t freaked out?” He asked, gesturing to himself and his brothers.

“No? I mean, at first I was, but I think I was more put off by Donnie’s giant forehead than the fact he was an actual talking turtle,” you snickered, grinning as said purple turtle sent you a menacing look. You turned your head at the sound of laughter and noticed how all three brothers looked at each other with large grins.

“Oh, my god. You’re now like, my favorite person ever,” Leo laughed, pretending to wipe away a tear, before clapping his hands together abruptly. “Alright, it’s settled. You're joining in on our movie night.”

You huffed out a laugh before you processed what he said.

“Wait.. huh?”

“Aaahhh yeah, baby! Lou Jitsu movie marathon!!” Mikey cheered, pumping his fists into the air, “Which one did we leave off on? I think I fell asleep halfway through—”

“Uhm, actually.. I really should be heading home…” you quickly interrupted, glancing at April for some help.

“Ah, c’mon,” she grinned, looping an arm around yourshoulders, “We can stay for one movie, right?” She asked, giving you a pleading look. 

You gently pulled away from her and pulled out your phone, spotting the large, noticeable crack running through the screen almost instantly. You casted a glance at the time.

“Well.. I do have a while till my aunt gets off work.. and I’m still pretty exhausted from earlier.. I guess I could stay for one, if that’s alright.” You glanced anxious between the three brothers. 

“Of course,” Raph nodded immediately, “I’ll get us some more popcorn.”

“Don’t burn it like last time!” Leo called after Raph’s large retreating figure, plopping down on one of the many bean bags scattered around the room.

You settled back into the couch as Mikey went over to start up the movie. You casted a glance over at Donnie, only to find him fully invested in his phone. You resided back next to April and flashed her a quick smile.

“I knew they’d like you,” she whispered, wrapping her arm through yours. 

“Hmm.. I guess,” you shrugged, “I’m pretty sure they only like me ‘cause we’re friends.”

April looked like she wanted to argue, but Raph soon returned and everyone quieted down for the movie. As you settled into watching Lou Jitsu Meets the Mummy Ninja (which you would admit was actually pretty entertaining so far), you noticed April slowly nodding off slightly. You didn’t have the nerve to wake her, so you internally decided you’d get her up once the movie ended.

Although, soon you found yourself slowly drifting off, along with everyone else in the room. You leaned against April’s shoulder, curling up around one of the spare couch pillows as you watched the projection through blurry eyes. In defeat, you slowly began to close them, casting one last glance over at the other end of the couch where Donnie sat, still duly staring at his phone.

You finally closed your eyes, taking a deep breath as you soaked in the comfort. Suddenly, a fuzzy warmth wrapped all around you, and when you opened your eyes for a brief moment, spotting the large, fluffy blanket draped over you and April, and the now empty spot on the couch.

However, exhaustion was already coursing so heavily through your veins, that you barely had time to process any of it before you crash into a dark, warm sleep, with the soft noise of Lou Jitsu battling thousands upon thousands of mummies in the background.

Chapter Text

Your eyes peeled open at the sound of laughter. You blinked a few times, trying desperately to clear your vision as you briefly wondered where you were. You found yourself alone on the sofa, all couch pillows knocked to the ground and a blanket loosely draped over your body. With sore and aching muscles, you used your arms to push yourself up and glanced around the room. 

Immediately your gaze landed on April and Mikey hovering over Raph’s sleep body, giggling like maniacs. 

Realization sunk in and you rubbed the bridge of your nose. Because—OH, that's right! You almost fucking died last night and somehow ended up in some weird abandoned subway-slash-sewer lair! Fun.

You continued watching April and Mikey, spotting the black sharpies in their hands as they scribbled over Raph’s face. You turned your gaze and stifled a laugh when your eyes landed on the bean bag Leo had passed out on. You pursed your lips in an attempt to remain quiet as you noticed his contorted position on the ground, with one arm awkwardly bent beside his head, a leg dangling up in the air, and scribbles covering every inch of his face. 

“Please say you haven’t gotten to me yet,” You chuckled, getting up from your spot on the couch and limping your way over to the large leather chair that held Raph’s sleeping figure. Both snapped their heads towards you with shit eating grins. 

“Luckily, you have yet to face our wrath,” April grinned, knocking you with her shoulder and making you let out a small laugh.

“Alright, alright!” Mikey suddenly interrupted, pulling away from his brother’s face. “What do you think so far? Because honestly, I think this is probably our greatest masterpiece yet.”

You crossed your arms over your chest as you admired April and Mikey’s handiwork. “Can’t say I disagree. I mean—just look at this. This could be the next Mona Lisa.” You snickered

“Why thank you,” Mikey flashed an award winning smile, giving you a small bow, “Wanna have a go?”

You stared at the held out sharpie in the turtle’s hand and tried to suppress a smile as you grabbed it and added your own doodle to an empty spot on Raph’s cheek.

“Oh, that’s perfect,” April snorted out a laugh, resting a hand on your shoulder and giving it a light shake.

“I pride myself in being quite the artist,” you muttered sarcastically, before glancing back up at the others. “Now what?”

“Now it’s breakfast time,” Mikey decided immediately with a nod of his head.

“Ooh, yessss— I’m starving,” April quickly agreed, grabbing you by the arm. “Once you have some of Mikey’s cooking, you’ll never want to eat anything else.”

“Oh, stop it,” He waved her off, though the grin on his face was a tell-tale sign that he didn’t really disagree. 

You couldn’t remember the last time you cooked with anyone else in the room, but it had to be a while because you hadn’t had this much fun in the kitchen in a long time. Mikey had set you on bacon and egg duty, which was a much easier job than the pancake batter he and April were working on. You were honestly grateful you’d been put to the simpler task, because your leg was quite truly killing you at that moment—and sketchy as they were, you kind of wished you had some of Donnie’s pain killers right now.

At some point, April had grabbed her phone and started blaring music from her playlist. You watched from over your shoulder as the others childishly danced around the room, serenading each other and you with their offkey singing. You accidentally snorted out a laugh when Mikey grabbed the spoon he was mixing with and used it as his microphone while his lip synced the words. Batter dripped onto the counter and floor, but Mikey didn’t seem to have a care in the world as he pulled off some admittedly impressive dance moves. 

You turned over the bacon as you tapped your uninjured foot to the beat, nodding along to Billy Joel as you worked. April stopped beside you, grabbing you suddenly by the shoulders and dragging you away from the stove. She managed to pull you into the impromptu dance party as she carried on singing the words, and you couldn’t help the bubbles of laughter that rose out of you. Hearing the sound of your laughter, Mikey grinned over at you and held the spoon over to you. “C’mon, join in!” he urged, pressing the batter-covered spoon to your cheek when you shook your head in refusal. With pancake batter spread over the side of your face, you let out a defeated sigh and leaned toward the ‘microphone’.

“Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex! J.F.K. blown away–” you grinned, as all three of you sang together. “WHAT ELSE DO I HAVE TO SAY?! WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE..! ”

You giggled like school children as you all danced, obnoxiously singing out the lyrics and fumbling over the words relentlessly. It was a wonder how you somehow managed to not wake up the others.  The song soon ended, and you looked at one another with amused expressions, when you noticed Mikey looking to the side.

“Uhh, guys..”

“What?” You questioned, looking over your shoulder back at the stove, “OH SHIT—”

The two pans you were using to cook the eggs and bacon were now effectively alight. You scrambled over to the small fires, hovering over the stove in a panic.

“BILLY JOEL, HOW COULD YOU,” You screeched, gripping at the sides of your head in dismay, as Mikey came running by with a box of baking powder. 

“MOVE!” He ordered, lightly shoving you out of the way as he dumped the baking powder over the pans. You watched in awe as the fires were slowly smothered to death, but frowned when you spotted your burnt bacon and eggs.

You sniffed. “My babies..” you mourned, clutching your heart.

April set a comforting hand on your back as you all cried over the lost food. 

You watched from the counter as Mikey finished up the pancakes, your head resting in the palms of your hands.

“Tell me I didn't just light the kitchen on fire..” you mumbled to April, who was seated next to you after making everyone a cup of well deserved coffee.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it! It was my fault for dragging you away from the food,” April assured you, resting a hand on your shoulder. You looked over at Mikey to see him giving you an encouraging smile. 

“Don’t even worry about it, y/n. At least you’re not like Raph when he’s left alone in the kitchen. You really should’ve seen it last time!” He snickered, “Mans does not know how to cook.”

You snorted, covering your mouth with your hand, before you paused as a new voice filled the kitchen.

“Wow Raph, you really just gonna stand here and take that slander?”

You spun around in your stool, spotting an offended Rapha and a half awake Leo standing at the kitchen entrance. 

“Ey, listen, Raph never said he was an expert at cooking, alright? It was one time!” Raph exclaimed, glowering down at Leo.

“Yeah, the one time we let you cook and you somehow blow up the entire kitchen,” Leo scoffed, rolling his eyes to one side, “It took Donnie three weeks to fix everything.”

“That was a long time ago!” His brother insisted.

“That was last year, Raph,” Mikey piped in.

Well, at least you weren’t to only one to fuck up their kitchen.

You looked back over at the two turtles and had to hide your snicker when you recognized the staining ink on their faces. You couldn’t help but laugh when you spotted the crudely drawn picture of a dick on Leo’s forehead.

He noticed you instantly and scowled, walking over to the empty still next to you.

“Oh, yeah—har, har! Just so you know, we’re getting you all back for this.”

“Oh, don’t include me on this. That was all them.” You grinned, before turning towards Raph as he leaned against the counter. “Although, I will take credit for that,” you said, pointing at the small doodle you had made earlier.

That earned a short from April and a light chuckle from Leo, who—despite a second ago—didn’t seem all too bothered by the fact that his face was currently covered in temporary crude tattoos. 

“Alright!” Mikey’s voice sounded, “Breakfast is ready! How many do y’all want—Raph, I already made yours, I figured you wanted your usual five.” You watched as he flexed his arm out across the counter, handing his brother the large stack of pancakes. 

Once everyone got their food, Mikey slipped the last two pancakes on a plate and grabbed three mugs of pitch black coffee before heading out of the kitchen. “I’ll be right back, just bringing these to Donnie!”

“Tell him to come down when he’s done, yeah? He can’t hole up in his lab all day,” Leo called back to him, receiving a faint hum of acknowledgement from his brother. 

Looking down at your plate of pancakes, you could already feel your mouth start to drool. You realized that you hadn’t really eaten anything since yesterday afternoon—and oh my god, you were literally this close eat a whole fucking cow right now.

Almost excitedly, you grabbed your fork and cut off a good sized bite. 

You doubted that one guy’s cooking could be worth all this build up, but just by the look of them, you were starting to believe all the praising claims. But like, they were just some pancakes, right? It wasn’t like they were something made by that famous Swaggart dude. (Whatever happened to that guy, anyway? You used to watch Kondescending Kitchen religiously.)

All your doubts were soon proven wrong when you placed the bite into your mouth.

Oh.. my GOD?! 

“Are they.. are they crying..?” You heard someone say, snapping you out of your trance.

“No!” You choked out, quickly wiping your eyes on your sleeve. “Shut up!” The others started laughing, causing your ears to burn furiously. Trying to move on from your embarrassment, you turned to Mikey. “This is the best thing I’ve ever had the honor of tasting. Holy shit, how did you learn to cook like this?”

Mikey blinked at you for a minute, processing what you said as a grin slowly appeared on his features.

“You think so? 

“Dude, yes. Oh my god, this is like—like if heaven and Jesus had a baby. Does that make sense? Probably not, but like—words cannot describe. They can’t. Oh, my goooodddd—” You interrupted yourself by shoving more food into your face, ignorant to the amused looks shared by April and the three brothers.

Then, everyone followed suit and started breaking up into small conversations as they ate. Leo was busy recounting all the epic adventures they’d been on—which mainly consisted of stories from when they were younger. The others would usually have to butt in when they needed to correct his over exaggeration however, but that made it all the more amusing.

“And then last year I successfully got my winning title back,” Leo gloated, holding a prideful hand to his heart, “Dude, you should’ve seen it. These guys can’t hold a candle to me during the games.”

You raised an eyebrow at this, disbelieving his claim as Mikey and Raph let out bothered groans.

“Scoff!” A new voice cut into the conversation, “The only reason you won last time was because I got sick and couldn’t compete,” You spun around in your seat, watching as Donnie walked in, coffee cup in his hand. His face then scrunched up at the sight of Leo and Raph. “I don’t even wanna know.” He muttered, gesturing towards their faces.

“Good call, one shot wonder,” Leo hummed, earning an offended stare from his brother before loudly clapping his hands together, “Alright, since we’re all here, let’s get down to business.”

“Business?” You questioned turning towards him.

“Yes, about last night. We should really start talking about this whole crazy mutants problem.” Leo nodded, looking back at you, “These new oozquitoes are mutating more humans than we can deal with. We need to get rid of them quickly.”

“What about that bug catcher Donnie made for Big Mama? We could use that to hunt them all down again!” Mikey suggested, looking over at his aforementioned brother as you silently wondered who the fuck Big Mama was.

Donnie glugged down the rest of his coffee and roughly set it against the counter. “Well, if you all don’t remember, it got damaged along with the rest of my tech when the old lair got destroyed—it’s basically unusable now.. but..” he glanced away, rubbing his chin. “I could try to rebuild it. Though it’ll all be useless without Big Mama’s webs—”

“Which will be practically impossible to get,” Leo interrupted, slumping over the counter and resting his head in his hands.

“Yeah, you’d think after literally saving the world, she’d be a little bit nicer to us,” he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, before his head perked up. “What if we got dad to do it?”

“Oh yeah, for a moment I forgot that she and Splinter used to— uugh,” Leo stopped himself, shuttering at the mere thought in his head.

Splinter? Okay, these guys really need to start giving context when throwing out unfamiliar names. 

“Hmm..” Donnie hummed, “That could work, though no doubt she’ll want something in it for her. I was meaning to bring this up.. later, but I’ve been in contact with Draxum about this whole situation. He’s worked with Big Mama before, he might come in handy if we have to do some negotiating.”

Oh yeah, you nearly forgot about him. “Has he found anything else about the bugs? Because even if we get this web stuff you guys keep talking about, how are we supposed to track down literal bugs? One tiny mosquito is literally a molecule compared to all of New York. How are we gonna find every single one of these things?” 

“Again, this is where I had Draxum come into play. I sent him all the data I collected over all our encounters with the new mutants, and he was able to discover this.”

He peered down at his wrist tablet and type hastily on the screen, projecting a blue hologram up over the counter. It appeared to be a map of New York.

“Once analyzing all the data I sent him, he was able to discover a pattern with the mutants' appearances. There are four main areas around New York where new mutants seem to show up.” As he spoke, he continued typing away at his tablet, pinning four different parts of the map. “And when there are mutants, there are oozquitoes. That tells us that at least a majority of the oozquitoes are housing down in these spots, for some reason or another. We definitely won’t be able to capture all of them with this method, but this should be a good starting point.”

“Haha! Well done, Dee!” April grinned over at him, reaching her arm over to lightly hit his shoulder, “Now we just gotta get those webs from Big Mama, rebuild the bug catch, capture all the new oozquitoes—and boom! Done! The city is saved!”

Everyone broke into excited chatter, as you listened happily, enjoying the warm and welcoming atmosphere—when suddenly you felt something vibrating in your pocket. You searched around and found your phone, and froze instantly when you saw the screen.

Oh, god. 

It was your aunt.

You were supposed to go home before she got back from work—but you—you fell asleep. 

April noticed your scrunched up expression and nudged your arm, casting you a worried glance. You gave her a strained smile and looked back at your phone, before scanning the room. The four brothers were bickering over something petty that you hadn’t paid attention to. 

“I need to go home,” you mumbled to April, anxiety churning in your stomach. Luckily, she seemed to immediately understand and helped you off your stool.

“Alright guys, now that we got that all sorted out, we better get going back home. See you later!” She waved, grabbing your arm and practically dragging you away from the counter.

“Uh—bye guys! It was really nice meeting you!” You called back over your shoulder, before flashing April a grateful smile. As you limped out of the kitchen, you tried to ignore the pair of eyes you felt staring into the back of your head as you left. 

You shoved the apartment key back into your pocket and turned the doorknob. Taking one last breath to calm your nerves, you pushed open the door and trailed your eyes around the apartment. Instantly, you found your aunt’s gaze as she stood up from the couch.

“Y/n!” She cried, rushing over and entrapping you in a tight hug. “Oh my, god—are you okay? I’ve been trying to call you all morning!”

“I—I know, I’m sorry—I woke up late and I just—I forgot to tell you I was going over to April’s,” you lied, rubbing her arm in an attempt to soothe her.

“April..? Oh, yes—yes, that girl you’ve told me about.. I remember her,” Your aunt mumbled, looking rather scatterbrained, “Oh, hun—you had me scared half to death! When I got home and you weren’t here, I—” she paused and took a deep breath. “I guess it doesn’t matter now. Oh, but you’ve got to stop being so forgetful! I was this close to calling the police, so you know that? I mean, have you seen the news recently? Crime rates are so high these days!”

“Yeah, I’m aware,” you chortled out a weak laugh, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I meant to call you once I got over to April’s, but I figured you were busy..” you grimenced. 

Your aunt looked at you for a moment before letting out a long, tired sigh.

“It’s alright, hun,” she mused, “It’s just—you know how I worry sometimes. After everything that happened, I just—” 

She cut herself off and you both fixed your eyes away from each other..

“How about I make us some brunch, yeah? What are you hungry for,” she hummed, resting a hand gently on your shoulder. You looked up at her and met the same, kind eyes you’ve known all your life. 

You returned the smile she was giving you, but shook your head and shook off her hand. 

“I’m good, I ate before I left April’s. Sorry,” you said, weaving around her and walking towards your room, “I think I’m gonna lie down for a bit. We were up.. pretty late.”

“Oh, alright.. well, just come get me if you wanna do something, okay?” You heard her say as you creaked open your bedroom door.

“Okay,” you mindlessly responded, not truly considering her offer as you stepped inside and closed the door. It took everything in you not to just collapse then and there on the floor.

Instead, you trudged yourself over to your desk, slipping into your chair and resting your head in your arms.

You couldn’t believe it. Last night.. Last night.. actually happened. You actually almost died last night. If it weren’t for you accidentally calling Donnie—

Your aunt could never know about this, she could never know about last night . She could never know about them.

Your breath hitched and buried your head deeper into your arms, trying desperately to swallow the emotion building up in your throat. You didn’t want to think about it, you didn’t want to think about mutants and oozquietoes and almost dying and lying to your aunt. You just—you just wanted it all to go away.

But is that really what you wanted? If you really didn’t want to be involved with these guys, you wouldn’t have tagged along with Donnie down to the hidden city, you wouldn’t have gone with him to that fricking Dairy Queen to answer his questions, you wouldn’t have dragged him inside from the alley and patched him up. You wouldn’t have done any of that if you weren’t the least bit intrigued.

But are you forgetting you literally almost died because of these mustn’t things?! You can’t put yourself in danger like that again, and hanging around these dudes is just gonna make it all the more harder to keep yourself safe. You can’t risk it again. You shouldn’t. 

You took a breath, recalling this morning. But really.. they had been so nice, and it felt so welcoming to be in their company. They were all so.. interesting. And a small part of you was invested in this whole oozquitoes thing. After what happened with David, didn’t you kind of owe it to him to try and stop other humans from dying from mutants' hands? You were the only one who truly knew what happened to him. 

You were brought back out of your head when you heard a sudden knocking from your bedroom door.

“Yeah?” You answered, waiting for your aunt’s reply. You were only met with more knocking. You frowned, growing slightly aggravated. “You can come in,” you said, rising from your chair and making your way over to the door. You yanked it open, only to find the hallway empty. 

“Huh..?” You mumbled, closing the door and rubbing your temples. Yep, you were going crazy. Should you honestly be surprised? 

You slumped back into your chair and leaned your head back, taking a deep breath. 

Then you heard more knocking.

“Oh my god—DAMN , WHA —” you shrieked, flailing your arms back and tipping over your chair.

Hand clutching your heart, you stared up at the figure peeking through your window, its silhouette shadowed by the sun. Holy shit, holy shit—

“Y/n? You okay?” You heard your aunt’s faint call from somewhere in the apartment.

“I—yeah! I’m fine!” You managed to call back, not looking away from the figure. You narrowed your eyes to get a better look and—

Your stomach dropped.

You scrambled to your feet and opened the window.

“Ah, finally. Took you long enough. Is this a bad time? I realized I forgot to check on—”

“Is this bad— yes, this is a bad time!” You interrupted, peeking out around the fire escape. “What the fuck are you doing here? Shit, what if someone sees you?!”

“Relax, I’ve been hiding from society for all my life, I think I know what I’m doing,” he replied with a bored tone. “Look, all I’m here for is to see how your leg is doing. Knowing you, you somehow managed to fuck it up even more.”

“Pfft—whatever, just get in here,” You huffed, pulling away from the window and allowing him inside. You dragged yourself over to your bed and flopped down on it, watching the mechanical arm from Donnie’s shell stretch out and hand him the first aid kit from last night. 

“Ankle,” he ordered, gesturing his hand out. You boredly pulled up your pants leg and lifted your foot into the air, letting him carefully grab it to unwrap the gauze. 

“How long is this exactly gonna take?” You groaned, leaning back against the headboard. 

“Not long,” he answered, “I just want to put some more antibiotics on the cuts to prevent any possible infections, especially for these deeper ones.” Suddenly, he winced. “Jesus.. you really got fucked up.” He muttered, reaching for the antiseptic wipes in the kit. 

“Gee, thanks. I hadn’t noticed,” you retorted, glaring over at him. “How long until it all heals?” 

“Well, it shouldn’t take more than a few days—though these ones right here may take a bit longer, but that’s to be expected,” he explained, pointing at the wounds as he talked, “I already told you about the sprain, but again—you’ll have to try to stay off it as much as possible. When I went back up to my lab last night, I found a compression wrap that you can use until it starts feeling better.”

You blinked. “Oh,” you mumbled, “Thanks.”

He hummed back a response, and silence filled the air between you, causing you to fix your gaze up at the ceiling. You traced the old plastic stars like you had before, trying to ignore the way your leg burned from the antibiotics. 

“Ow.”

“Oh, not this again.”

“I can’t help it if it hurts, man! Sorry I have a low pain tolerance,” you bickered, glaring daggers at him.

“Well, that’s not my fault. I’m only here to make sure your door doesn’t get infected,” he retorted, barely looking in your direction. 

“I never asked for your help,” you muttered, looking back up at the ceiling. 

Once again, silence consumed the room, as a bubbling frustration crawled up the back of your throat. You’d never know how April could stand to be friends with a guy like him. He was just so— aggravating. Like, all the time. 

Not to mention, he was sooooo sketchy. Secretive too. He seemed so dead set last night on keeping you from the lair and meeting his brothers, when you really don’t know what the big deal was. They were all nice from what you could tell! Oh, and that Shedder guy, what’s the deal with that? Donnie keeps acting like he’s the guy Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And why does he not want anyone to know how you two met! Why does he— why does he care?!

You grimenced and looked back at him. He wouldn’t meet your eyes.

“Can I ask you a question?” Your voice cut through the quiet. 

“Well, you just did.” 

“Ha, ha.” You choked out bitterly, “I’m being serious.”

Donnie glanced up and over at you for a quick second, before letting his eyes fall back down to his work. 

“Fine. Shoot,” he allowed with the nod of his head.

“Why did you lie to the others?” You asked bluntly, boring holes in the side of his head.You watched him tense his shoulders. 

“I—” he struggled, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit,” you swore, “Why do you not want them to know what happened to you in the alley? What’s the deal?”

“There’s no deal, it’s just—it’s easier if they didn’t know, okay?” He answered, continuing with wrapping the gauze around your leg. “Look, can we not talk about this right now? I mean, why can’t your family know that I’m here?”

You stared at him like he was crazy. “Because she would absolutely flip out if she knew—”

“Exactly,” he interrupted, looking at you with a fixed gaze. You huffed out a breath and glanced away.

“Fine, whatever. I still don’t get it, but whatever floats your boat, man.” 

Donnie let out a sigh. “Thank you,” he grumbled, cutting away the excess gauze and stuffing it back into the kit. You watched as he grabbed something new from it and turned to you. 

“This is the compression wrap, I’m just going to fold it around the ankle and it should ease up the swelling a bit. You need to be sure not to wear it at night and to readjust it every few hours to make sure it stays firm around the heel.” He instructed, talking as he showed you how to wrap it. Then, he rose to his feet and the mechanical arm drew back into his shell with the first aid kit.

“You’re done? That was fast,” you muttered, a note of surprise in your tone. 

“Yep. I’ll be taking my leave now,” he spoke, making his way back towards the window. Watching his retreating form, guilt nibbled away at the back of your mind. 

“Hey, wait,” you reached out, making the turtle pause and look back at you. You took in a deep breath. “Look, I— ..I’m sorry, it’s just—all of this has been.. a lot for me, and I’m still just kinda.. processing everything? I guess? I dunno, I’m just—I don’t mean to be all bitchy and shit. It’s just been.. overwhelming, y’know?”

Donnie was quiet for a moment before he fully met your gaze. 

“I suppose I can understand that. I imagine all of this hasn’t exactly been.. favorable for you.” He spoke carefully, almost robotically. “And I mean, I did come here unannounced, so your frustration towards me is not not ungranted. Next time, I’ll be sure to give you a more acceptable notice ahead of time” 

Your lips quirked up into a slight grin. “Next time?”

“Well.. yes, assuming you will refuse to take care of your injury properly,” he stated, a brief moment of embarrassment flashing across his face as he coughed into his fist, “And I should know first hand that your medical skills aren’t exactly.. qualifying, so it seems much for simpler if I handle it myself.”

“Of course,” you rolled your eyes, speaking in a teasing manner, “It can’t possibly be because you actually enjoy my company.”

Donnie stiffened almost immediately at that, blinking wildly at you. “Wah—of course not! Don’t flatter yourself, you’re one of the most intolerable people I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting,” he hissed out, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. 

“Then why did you let me tag along on your trip to Draxum’s if my presence really is that intolerable?” You shit back, tilting your head to the side as you watched him squirm in place.

“Because—because I knew you wouldn’t leave me be until I let you!” he scoffed, rolling his eyes up towards the ceiling. Suddenly, his flustered expression shifted to one of perplexity. “Is that.. the Orion constellation?”

“Huh?” You hummed, following where his eyes had landed. There on the ceiling, drawn out by dulling, plastic stars was the Orion constellation. “Oh, uhm.. yeah. Yeah, it is.”

You watched as his gaze flicked around the ceiling, noting all the old constellations you had stuck up there all those years ago. 

“Hmm,” he mused, now admiring the Scorpius constellation on the other side of the room. “Ah, nice touch keeping them on opposite sides. Was that intentional?”

You jumped a bit. “Oh! Uhm, yeah. I wanted to be accurate to the real thing,” you chuckled anxiously, “I wanted to add Ophiuchus up here in the middle but uh.. I had kinda run out of stars.”

“Hmm, I can tell,” he breathed out a laugh, continuing to glance around at the tiny galaxy on your ceiling, “And.. Ophiuchus is in between the two right? That’s why you wanted to add it to the middle?”

“Yeah, if I remember correctly, Ophiuchus in Greek mythology was who revived Orion once the scorpion Gaia sent killed him.” You recalled, “It’s not that interesting of a story—just some guy who flexed a bit too much and pissed off one of the goddesses, but I always liked the connection of the mythology to the constellations, so I wanted to add it up there. I was honestly really upset that I couldn't finish the set,” you said with an embarrassed laugh. 

You glanced back over and noticed the way he looked at you, how you had his full attention. Your stomach filled with a familiar dread. 

“Hah, pretty nerdy of me, right? God, middle school me was sooo embarrassing,” you coughed out a laugh, looking at him anxiously as you waited. 

“On the contrary, exactly—” he said, surprising you, “I think this is all pretty interesting. As intriguing as outer space is, I can’t say I know much of the mythologies.”

You blinked up at him for a brief moment. “Uhm—heh, yeah. I kinda got fixated on them after getting into the different constellations and stuff.”

“M’hmm,” he mused, listening intently, “You’ll have to tell me more about them. As you would say—I’m.. invested now.” He said with a notable smile.

“Oh, uhm—okay,” you stammered, nodding your head. “Yeah, okay.”

“Excellent, however it will have to be at a later date—I must be getting back to the lair now. Farewell.”

“Oh,” you hummed, a slight pang drumming in your chest. “Alright.. See ya’. ” You said, waving a weak hand in his direction.

Giving you a curt nod goodbye, he stepped out of the window and just was quickly as when he had appeared—he was gone

You stared at the now empty space where he once stood, before glancing up at the ceiling once more. 

Maybe it was finally time to get into those old stories again…

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you wanna go? I mean, you literally tripped over April’s front door when we let you in—”

“HEY. We said we were gonna forget that ever happened,” you sent a sharp glare her way as you readjusted the compression wrap. Donnie had been on your ass about keeping it on right, and you were honestly pretty tired of all the hour long lectures on how to properly take care of a leg injury. (If you wanted to learn about medical shit, you’d go to your aunt.) “Anyway, it barely hurts now. I’ll be fine, it’s not like we’re going to some night club. Relax, yeah?”

“Yeah, Relax girl!” April’s voice sounded from inside her room, “Besides, I didn’t set this hang out up with the guys just to leave out the one person they’re meant to bond with tonight.”

“I mean, I’m sorta friends with Mikey! Doesn’t that count for anything??”

“No,” April answered back.

You rolled your eyes. “Forcing them to hang out with me isn’t gonna make them like me, April,” you called back through the door, “After basically breaking into their home and crashing on their couch, I doubt I’ll be able to make up for that first impression..”

“Don’t be crazy..! Of course they like you! They just need a chance to get to know you more, which is why we’re going out together and having the time of our lives tonight!”

“Yeah, sounds great,” Sunita responded, “Now if you’d hurry up and finish getting ready, we can actually go do that.”

“You can’t rush perfection,” April said back, before going quiet for a few moments. Then suddenly, the door swung open. “Ta-daaaaa! And done! What do ya’ think?”

“Oooh! I love those boots. Are those the ones you took from the Foot Shack?”

“Girl, I took all my good shoes from the Foot Shack. At least I got one thing from working for that crazy cult.”

You snickered. “I thought Casey was the one who was in a cult?”

April glared at you as she slung her purse over her shoulder, “Oh, hush.” She elbowed you, before pulling out her phone. “Speaking of Casey, we better hurry if we don’t wanna be late meeting her at the subway.”

She held out her purse, opening the top and stretching out the bag as the cute little furball that was Mayhem poofed inside. April looked down at him fondly and stroked his head, making the dog-cat-Yokai-thing purr.

“HELL- O! I’ve literally been saying that for the past hour,” Sunita exasperated, as you all made your way outside April’s apartment.

“You’re just jealous of my kick-ass boots.”

“How much longer are they gonna take,” you asked, slumping up against the outside of the arcade building.

“Don said they were gonna be running a bit late. Should be here any minute,” April told you, peeking around the street in search of the brothers. You studied the attempt of a reassuring smile April gave you, but only shrunk in on yourself as you scoured the block. She had much more optimism about tonight than you did..

April watched you for a moment longer before glancing into the alleyway next to the arcade and beamed. “And speak of the devil!”

You and the others perked your heads up to peek into the alley, spotting the four turtle brothers you just so happened to be waiting for—expect unlike a few nights ago, they were dressed in beanies, hoodies and sweatshirts, jeans (or sweat pants if you were Donnie), and a variety of different kinds of sneakers. 

Disguises—you assumed (even if they hardly did their job, especially for poor Raph).

“Finally, about time you guys showed up” April rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip, “you ready to go in or what?”

“Ooooh yeah!” Mikey jumped, clapping his hands together as you all made your way towards the entrance, “Alright, who’s gonna take me on in DDR first? Donnie? C’mon, I know you want to,” he pestered, poking at Donnie’s face as his brother stared intensely into his phone screen.

“Fine,” he eventually huffed, shoving his phone deep into his hoodie pocket, “but loser had to do patrol tomorrow night,” he challenged, a sick smile twisting onto his face.

“You’re on!” Mikey agreed with a determined expression as they shook hands on it, before he dragged his brother further into the arcade. You watched their retreating figures as Leo and Raph let out low, humored chuckles.

“Oh, he’s so gonna lose,” Leo grinned knowingly, turning an eye towards you. “He challenges Donnie every time to DDD and has never won once.”

You snorted at this. “I refuse to believe Donnie is that good at Dance Dance Revolution.”

“Believe it,” April butted in, resting her arm over your shoulder, “The man doesn’t call himself Bootyyyshaker9000 for nothing.”

You wheezed out a laugh, clutching your chest in baffled disbelief. “I’m sorry, what— he calls himself WHAT—” you broke out into hiccuping giggles as you all journeyed through the arcade.

It was big and bright and loud, with flashing lights to help attract kids and adults alike with their short attention spans. The carpet flooring was similar to the style one at your work, except this one was a bit more modern. It probably wasn’t even half as old as the one at work—and the small little stars and shapes in the fibers glowed in the black light. “Starlight Brigade” blasted faintly in the background, only adding to the retro-esk atmosphere of the arcade.

Different types of games filled the area, ranging from the typical games like PacMan and those shooting games, to some more of the newer games like Piano Tiles and Crossy Road, to even a few older ones like Donkey Kong and Super Mario Brothers. Sunita and April (and of course Mayhem) eventually ended up splitting away from the group to check out the claw machines and skee-ball games, and Casey ran off to some Lou Jitzu based game that was very much a rip off of Fruit Ninja, and Raph ran off after Donnie and Mikey, cheering for them as they danced away to the music.

So that left you and Leo. 

Oh joy.

You liked Leo. Well, you didn’t dislike him. Well—

To be fair, you’d honestly just met the guy! Same goes for the others, except maybe Donnie—you didn't think too highly of him, but at least you didn’t meet him while you were sneaking around his home. (Though, finding him unconscious in an alleyway isn’t exactly what someone would call a great first impression.) But, as you were saying—you’d only just met them, and now April was basically forcing you to bond with all of them tonight.

One problem however with April’s Big Bonding Time Scheme™, and that was your innate ability at failing to make small talk. 

According to Webster’s dictionary, it defines small talk, also known as chitchat, as light or casual conversation, but what good old Webster failed to mention was how small talk was the silent killer for all possible future friendships. If you couldn’t master the art of small talk—welp, too bad. Enjoy being friendless, loser.

But you knew April was looking forward to this, and you really wanted to make her happy so.. ugh, you guess tonight you could try.

“So…” you started awkwardly, rocking on the back of your heels and squinting your eyes from the large, bright lights illuminating from all the games. Oof—now you remembered why you only played video games from the comfort of your home. Too many people and too many neons.. “What are you gonna do first?” You asked, hoping maybe to ease your way into a conversation with him.

“I’m gonna try to track down one of those basketball shooting games. What about you?” He asked, casually looking over at you. 

“Oh, uhm.. I dunno, I saw they had a Street Fighters machine. Might go play some of that,” you fumbled.

“Excuse me— Street Fighters? Ew, no.” He responded bluntly, “C’mon, you and I are gonna play a few rounds of basketball.”

For April you had told yourself. 

“Mmm, alright. But I gotta warn ya’, I’m a poor shot,” you said with surrendering hands.

He gave a charismatic smile. “Can’t be worse than Donnie.”

“I’m learning so much about him tonight. First, he’s apparently some S tier dancer, next he’s a horrendous basketball player.”

“Correction; he’s horrendous at every sport ever.” He started with a laugh, clutching your arm and dragging you around the arcade in search of the game. You didn’t appreciate being tugged every which way, but the genuinely excited grin on Leo’s face made you bite back every rude comment flooding through your brain. You let him lead you towards the basketball game and watched as he slipped a quarter into the token slot. The scoreboard at the top lit up and the lights lining around the console began to flicker, signaling the game had begun. You both started to grab balls from each of your respective sides and shoot them towards the hoops.

“Dude c’mon,” he teased, nailing a net shot, “You have to actually try.”

“I am!” you argued, missing the fifth shot in a row. “I actually am!”

“I call bullshit! Here, look at me,” you rolled your eyes and turned towards him, watching as he held up a ball in his hands. “Put your hands kind of like this—maybe use the lines as a guide.” You copied his demonstration, making him nod. “Yeah, like that. Now bring the ball up and kinda line it up with the backboard. Aim for the little square and then—” he shot the ball, making it knock against the backboard and tumble into the net effortlessly. He looked back at you with a cocky grin.

You aimed the ball like he said and stared down the small backboard. Then you took the shot.

In slow motion, you watched as the ball flew towards the net, but instead of landing against the backboard, it bounced off the rim and nailed right into Leo’s face.

“OH MY GOD,” you gasped.

“Fuck!” Leo cursed.

You stood in front of the turtle with pure, unmatched horror as you cupped your hands over your mouth. You did not just do that—dear god, please say you did not just do that.

“Leo, I am sooooo sorry,” you fumbled over your words, trying to see his face as he held a hand over his beak. 

“Hey, hey.. it’s all cool, just—” he winced suddenly, “Just a little sore. Nothing too bad.” He pulled his hand away, “See?”

You immediately wanted to jump off a cliff.

“It’s bleeding.” You managed out.

“What?” He did a double take, lifting his fingers up to his nose again, lightly hovering over the nostrils. He pulled away, glancing down at his now red-stained fingertips. “Oh shit, guess I am.”

A basketball just slammed into this guy’s face and that’s all he has to say? The fuck?

“I’m so sorry, dude. Do you need like, ice or something? A tissue?” You asked, silently praying to the video game gods above to strike you down where you stood. 

Leo let out a laugh and shook his head. “Nah, I think I’ll be fine, just give me a second,” he waved you off, first a look flashed through his eyes. “Though if you wanted to make it up to me.. you could get me a Pepsi from the concession stand.”

You deadpanned. “I feel bad, but not enough to buy you a soda. Especially a Pepsi of all things.”

“Wha—what’s wrong with Pepsi?!”

“Nothing! Nothing…” you trailed off, “besides the fact it tastes like absolute dog shit.”

“Cease with this blasphemy!” He jested, lightly shoving you towards the concessions. “Let’s just go. I need to clean this off anyway.”

“Fine, fine,” you relented with a laugh, “Let’s go before you bleed all over the carpet.”

You wandered through the onslaught on arcade machines, peeking over heads and craneing around blocking bodies as you searched for the concession stand. Trying desperately to dodge any oncoming person, you worked hard to keep yourself from touching or bumping into anybody. It was crowded and loud and bright, but soon you found your safe haven. You squeezed away from the arcade games and approached the counter.

“Just a Pepsi and a root beer, please,” you asked the unhappy looking concessions worker, who looked like she was on the verge of throwing herself off a building. She didn’t even blink when she noticed Leo standing beside you. 

Oh, which reminded you—

“—And some napkins? Thanks.”

With a bored nod, she walked towards the back to fetch the drinks, giving you a chance to pull out your wallet and look around the area. Beside the concession stand were a few lone tables with fold out chairs. The worker soon came back with your drinks and you paid the total given, before leading Leo over to one of the tables and setting down your things.

“Here—sorry again,” you said earnestly, handing Leo his drink and the napkins.

“Hey, no worries,” he shrugged, slumping down into one of the fold out chairs and wiping off his face, “If a bloody nose is the worst thing to happen tonight, I think I’ll be okay.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at this, cracking open your drink while Leo immediately started chugging his. You shook your head, of course.

“Y/n?”

Then you froze.

Shooting your head up, you stared past Leo’s shoulder to find a familiar face. 

“Jeffery?” You called back, watching nervously as he slowly approached your table, casting a warning glance towards Leo. Luckily, he seemed to understand your panic and ducked his head away awkwardly.  “Heh—hey! What’re you doing here?”

“Hey, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Jeffery said, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he skillfully dodged the question. “What’s going on? It’s been a bit.”

“Uhm, yeah—it has,” you nodded, “We haven’t seen you for a while at the rink, everything okay?”

“Oh, er.. yeah, about that..” Jeffery cringed and looked away, rubbing his neck. “I kinda.. quit?”

“You quit? How come?” you asked, looking up at him.

“I found another job that pays a bit better,” he said, “Here actually, I found a job here. I’m.. technically supposed to be on the clock right now actually,” he laughed, shrugging his shoulders.

You frowned. “Oh,” you hummed, trying hard to ignore the disappointing ache in your chest. “How come you quit? If you don’t mind me asking—I mean, I know you said these pats better but..”

Jeffery gave you an understanding look.

“It wasn’t really anything to do with the rink itself,” his eyes casted on the table bashfully, “I kinda need the money. College stuff, y’know? Got to get ahead on that student loan debt.” He joked with a nervous smile.

“Oh yeah, school’s coming up soon..” you added, cracking open your root beer. You furrowed your brows. “But.. I thought your folks were helping pay for it?”

“Oh, well..” he turned away, “I’m actually planning on.. moving.”

“Moving! Where? What about going to Queens? Isn’t that where you said you’ve always dreamed of going?”

“I still am! I’m not moving any time soon,” He reassured you, before shuddering at the thought, “ God no. I’m gonna do the first semester and then see if I can switch to online courses.”

“But.. why? Where are you gonna go?” You asked, leaning forward a bit.

“I’m thinking somewhere down in Jersey? I have some family on my mom’s side down there,” he shrugged, “I just—these past few weeks, I’ve had a—Just a very bad feeling. Something weird is going on here, (y/n),” he looked at you with a darkened face, dead and serious.

“Some—something weird?” You croaked out, nervously going to take a sip of your drink, locking eyes with Leo, who you’d only just remembered was still there.

“Yeah, after everything with..” he paused, glancing over at Leo with an anxious look. He cleared his throat. “I just think it’s better to be safe than sorry. I mean, have you seen the news? Nearly eight people have gone missing in our area this month. ” Lowering his voice for only you to hear, he said, “Get out while you can, (y/n). I'm not risking it, and you shouldn’t either. I have to get back to my shift now, but I’ll see you at work. Bye.”

You held a neutral expression as you waved goodbye and watched him disappear into the crowd. You sucked in a deep gasp for air, forcing yourself to breathe. Holy fuck— holy fuck.

This was not good. This was really not good—eight people? Were they killed, or were they changed into freaky mutant animals? Oh, sweet baby Jesus—

“Who was that?” 

You jumped and snapped your neck back towards Leo.

“A co—er, an old coworker of mine,” you shrugged, before peering over at him. “You heard what he said though, right?”

“Oooh yeah,” Leo grimenced, leaning back into his chair, “Dude sounds majorly on edge. He doesn’t happen to know about—well, y’know.”

Rolling your eyes, you folded your arms over the table and hunched over. “No, of course he doesn’t,” you mumbled, gazing around the arcade, “I think he’s just on edge with all those missing persons.”

It wasn’t technically a lie, but you didn’t exactly feel like getting into the whole David situation. 

You continued glancing around the room, trying to shake off the horrible churning in your stomach. You found yourself scanning the area again for Jeffery, but were surprised to find Raph emerging from the crowd. He grinned went he noticed you and Leo and started to approach the both of you.

“Hey, what’re you guys up to?”

“Oh y’know, just got my face obliterated by a basketball, no biggie,” Leo smirked, leaning on the back of your chair as you instantly hid your head in your hands.

“Leo, don’t—”

“Whaaaaaat? You don’t want Raph knowing how you’re so trash as basketball that you somehow demolished my face?”

“You did what?” Raph snorted, turning towards you as you sunk even further into your chair.

“It was an accident!” You swore, “He was the one that gave me the shit advice!”

“My advice is not shit.”

“Maybe not, but your taste in soda is—”

“Oh, fuck off! Pepsi is not that bad —right Raph?” He asked, looking up at his older brother.

With an amused grin and a flash in his eye, Raph laughed and quickly shook his head. “I dunno, I might have to side with (y/n) on this one.”

“HA! There,” you cheered, jumping from your seat as you let out a victorious laugh and you pointed mockingly back down at Leo.

“Seriously? Ugh, I hate both of you,” he huffed towards you, before finishing off the rest of his drink and tossing it towards you, leaving you to dumbly catch it. “I’m gonna go find a shooter game, see ya’ losers.”

Bidding you farewell with a salute and a smile, he walked off back towards the arcade, his disguised figure disappearing into the crowd. You rolled your eyes and looked back to Raph, who you found was already looking back at you.

“So, did you really wreck his face?” He asked with a snort.

You couldn’t help but laugh. “I’d like to clarify that I told him I had a terrible shot.”

“Yeah well, no kidding,” Raph chuckled, crossing his arms over his chests and shaking his head again. “I was gonna go check out the claw machines, you wanna tag along?”

“Sure,” you shrugged, as you tossed away yours and Leo’s trash. Raph beamed at your response and eagerly led the way.

Following him through the arcade, you found a small section dedicated to claw games and capsule machines. The small capsule games only held the typical stickers or plastic rings or temporary tattoos you’d expect from them, but the claw machines had a much bigger variety of prizes. Some were dedicated solely to stuffed animals and plushes, while others held the pricier items like Bluetooth speakers or one of the latest phones and tablets, and there were even some key master machines with a few gift cards and cash prizes.

But unlike what you were expecting, instead of heading for the more expensive rewards, Raph parked himself in front of one filled with stuffed animals and immediately started sliding quarters into the token slot. 

You yourself were not that experienced with claw machines, any time you’d play them you’d always fail to win anything and eventually you just found the games to be rigged more often than not. But you knew that some people could be extremely skilled with the games—and as it would turn out, Raph was one of these people.

Just as soon as he had started, he’d already managed to win one of the many prizes—a cute little Jigglypuff plush. He retrieved the plush with a giant grin, his snaggletooth poking out. He sent a cheerful look your way that you couldn’t help but return.

Much like Leo, you didn’t know much of Raph—you did see how he was sort of the gentle giant type. He had been very friendly the night you’d met him, and despite the large height difference, you didn’t feel too intimidated around him. But you still had a few nerves to shake loose. It was easy Leo you noticed, as he seemed more entertained by joking and banter than the idle small talk and chitchat (thank god), and he could hold up most of the conversation if needed, but Raph didn’t seem to be that way.

In all honesty, he kind of seemed to be just as awkward with conversation as you, as you two stood in silence as he played and you watched. The pile of plushies continued to build up beside you as he won more and more. You didn’t understand how he could be so good at this.

“You must really like claw games,” you suddenly blurted out (much to your own horror), “I mean, I’ve never won this many times in a row.”

As Raph dropped in another win (a very crude looking Sonic plush), he turned to you with an embarrassed smile. “Eh, I guess after a while, you kinda learn all the little tricks to make it easier,” He looked down at you with a soft grin. “Wanna give it a try?”

You hesitated, but eventually nodded your head as Raph stepped back for you to take his place. “You can’t laugh when I fail, though.”

“Pfft—” he huffed out a laugh, “Okay.”

In the far right corner, you spotted a small little stuffed bear and thought it looked easy enough to get, so you inserted your quarters into the machine and began pushing the crane towards the animal. 

Right as you dangled it over the bear, you pressed the big, red button on the console and watched the crone lower down to the plush. The three metal claws gripped around the bear’s head and slowly lifted it into the air, carrying it across to the drop off zone. But just as it got halfway, the grip on the bear loosened and the small plush fell face first into the mountain of stuffed animals.

You let out an annoyed groan as Raph tried hard to cover his laughter. 

“Yeah, yeah!” You smiled, “Whatever. Tonight just isn’t my night, okay?”

“Heh, no kiddin’!” Raph snorted, before gesturing to the machine, “Try again. You got it in a good spot now.”

“Mm, alright. But if I miss again, you owe me two quarters.”

“Deal,” he chortled, crossing his arms over his chest as you slid in another fifty cents into the coin slot. You inched the crane towards the bear, careful to keep it just over the plush’s body. You took a deep breath and hit the button once more, watching in anticipation as the claw slowly dropped down and curled around the bear’s torso. Then carefully, the crane pulled itself back up and dragged the bear near the drop box. It dangled over the hole for a moment, before the crane released its grip and the bear fell through.

Letting out an excited cheer, you pumped your fists into the air and turned to Raph with a wide smile. He smiled back and cheered with you, offering you a high five. (Or was it a high three?)

You reached down to fetch your reward, admiring the small little plush.

“What’re you gonna do with all of these?” You asked, gesturing down to the rest of the stuffed animal. Raph only shrugged his shoulders and scooped them all up into his arms. 

“You want some of them? I got plenty of these back at the lair.”

“You sure?” You asked, carefully looking over the pile of plushies in his grasp. 

“Yeah, go ahead,” you couldn’t help but smile as you pulled out the jigglypuff from before and a dopey-looking Freddy Fazbear plush (because why not, y’know). You looked down at your new little buddies and gave them a small hug. 

Note to self: Raph is literally the biggest sweetheart you’ve ever met. 

“Wanna go try and find the others?” You offered, awkwardly adjusting the stuffed animals in your arms.

With a broad smile and a curt nod, Raph led the way from the claw machines and back into the seas of sweat and hormones.

You stared almost in shock as everyone around you cheered for the two disguised turtles. Lights flashing from the DDR system as Mikey and Donnie danced to the music. You managed to find a spot not too terribly far from the front, though it was a little hard to see and you did end up losing Raph in the mass of nerds and gamers along the way. But you had only spent a good minute looking around for him before you were suddenly enraptured by the contest in front of you, much like the crowd around you.

 Mikey was slowly but surely messing up his combo more and more often, while Donnie, on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly in sync with the screen ahead of them, save for the small show-off-y moves he’d occasionally pull to gain some reactions from the crowd. But not once during his run had he missed a step.

It was almost impressive. Almost.

You would admit though, you were surprised Mikey had managed to keep up for this long. He looked like he was on the verge of passing out, but hey! He was still kinda doing well. (He was not doing well at all.)

But soon, the round ended and he immediately collapsed back onto the rail bar behind him. On the screen, in bold, flashing letters displayed the short message ‘PLAYER ONE WINS’.

This earns a loud groan from the orange masked turtle. “Aww, c’mon Donnie! Best out of nine!”

Donnie held a smug and confident smirk as he basked in the cheering crowd, barely casting a glance towards his pleading brother.

“Apologies, dear Angelo, but it appears I have won yet again! Have fun on patrol, brother,” he practically cackled, patting Mikey’s dipped head before taking a large step off the platform. You rolled your eyes as he began showboating in front of the crowd, when suddenly his eyes caught yours. As the crowd began to thin out and spread back out across the arcade, he approached you with a confident grin.

“I see you’ve been with Raph,” he noted, glancing down at the three stuffed animals in your grasp.

“Heh, yeah. You were good up there, footloose,” you jested, “Didn’t realize we had a grade A dancer in our midst.”

“Ah yes, I do tend to be an expert with these types of games,” he gloated with a smirk.

“Well, I mean, you’re okay, I guess,” you mused, as you moved your arms to a more comfortable hold on all the plushies. “I see some room for improvement, but overall you’re not too bad.”

An offended look mocked across his face before it quickly shifted back to his cocky expression. “Well, then perhaps you are up for a round against me? I do suppose I can go for one more game,” he hummed, stretching out his arms.

Dance against Donnie? After all that? Yeah uhmm, no thanks—you know when you’re beat. 

“Nah, I’m thinking something more like..” you made a quick glance around the arcade, searching for a possible game you could have a chance in. Then, your eyes landed on a familiar looking table, and your brows peaked. “Air hockey.”

“Air hockey?” He parroted, sounding incredibly studded. You whipped your head back towards him, a growing smile on your lips.

“Air hockey.”

You charged away from him, not waiting for a response as you strolled over to the game. You stood at one end of the table, placing your plushies beside you on the floor and slipping in two quarters into the coin slot, making the machine come to life with air streaming through the table. You grabbed one of the strikers and the cold, black puck, and looked up just in time to see Donnie slide behind the other side. He grabbed the other striker, lifting it up to examine it before looking back at you, a calculating grin on his face.

“You ready to get your ass handed to you, (l/n)?” He asked, cracking his knuckles.

“You ready to eat your words, BootyyyShaker9000?” You grinned, watching as the purple hooded turtle nearly froze in place. You quickly slammed down the puck and took your shot.

“Oh yeah! First point, baby!” You howled, pumping your fist into the air as Donnie did a double take. 

“Wah—that’s cheating! You’re playing dirty,” he hissed, “And how did you know that?!”

You snickered. “It’s not cheating! The table is on—by the official air hockey rules, that means the game has begun. It’s not my fault you weren’t paying attention.” 

“Paying atten— You distracted me!”

“Oops,” you smirked, giving a light shrug before readying your striker. “Just hit it already.”

Donnie glared at you for a moment longer, before a determined grin crossed his face as he bent over to grab the puck from his side. 

“Fine, but you’re asking for it.”

Then the game was on.

You’d give it to Donnie, he was pretty good. He managed to score a few points against you—but his glowing glory would only last a few moments before you’d nail the puck flawlessly back into his goal and take back the lead. But now it was nearly neck and neck. And you were only one point away from winning.

You grinned, patting yourself on the back as you had just scored another easy point against him. Donnie had managed to keep with you for the entirety of the game, but there was no way he could score two goals in a row. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Donnie groaned, slapping the puck back onto the table as you finished up your boasting. “Just fucking play.” You couldn’t tell if he was genuinely pissed off that he was losing, or if he was simply playing it up for laughs—but either way you were living for it. 

“Fine,” you exasperated, throwing your head back briefly, before tightening the grip on your striker.

Then Donnie swiftly knocked the puck towards your goal. You watched as it zipped across the table, as your quick reflexes craned your arm to block the blow. With the swish of your arm, you hit it back towards him with twice the speed. It flew back and forth against the walls of the table as it shot back over to Donnie's side. But just as it was about to nail into the goal, Donnie’s striker came in clutch and knocked the puck away, sending it straight across the ‘field’ and directly into your goal.

Jaw dropped, you turned towards the small digital scoreboard embedded into the machine to see a big fat 9–9.

Tied. This was the winning point. Whoever scored next would forever live in air hockey glory, while the loser would crumble away in embarrassing shame. You were not going to lose, especially to Donnie. Lord knows his ego was probably already through the roof tonight. You were just going to have to beat his scrawny, bitchy ass.

A twisted grin grew along your lips, as you slammed the puck back on the table and immediately started the next and final round. With lightning speed, it sailed towards Donnie’s goal, but he was quicker. Everything went by in a blur, with the puck bouncing all around the board, going faster and faster. 

Sweat building around the stick of your striker, you gripped around the edges to keep a firm handle on it. The cool air streaming out from the table brushed against your fingertips, as you watched the puck quickly bounce off the wall. You readied yourself just as the puck dove back towards your goal—but then, just as it was about to go in, you knocked it away with a hard hit and watched it zip past Donnie’s block and into the goal. 

A small buzzer from the machine sounded off, signaling the end of the game, but you paid it no mind when a suddenly stinging pain burned from your fingers. Wincing, you took a split second to glance down at your hand, noticing the reddening spot running through your fingers. Shit, did you accidentally hit them against the puck?

“What?” He asked rather flatly, gazing over at you with raised eyebrows, hinting at what you assumed was concern.

“Fuck! I hit it on the stupid puck!!” You seethed, shaking your hand in an attempt to shake off the pain. Donnie snorted and rounded his away over to you. 

“You won, but at what cost?” He asked dramatically, clutching his fist somberly into the air, making you laugh as the stinging pain slowly faded.

“Yeah, yeah,” you rolled your eyes, “It was worth it. I totally beat your ass.”

“Yeah, by a single point,” he retorted, “Either of us could’ve won.”

“Sure, okay—whatever helps you sleep at night,” you teased, nudging him with your arm as you grabbed all your new stuffed animals from off the floor. “Now you owe me something from the prize counter.”

“What? No, I do not,” he quickly argued.

“Yeah, you do. Loser has to get the winner something from the prize counter!” You said, “That’s basic air hockey etiquette.”

“Oh, right— of course,” he nodded his head, “I forgot I was in the presence of an air hockey expert.”

“How foolish of you to forget?” you gasped in mock dismay, “Just for that, i think you owe me two prizes.”

“I don’t believe that is stated in any of the air hockey bylaws,” Donnie countered.

“Oh, but I believe that it is!” you insisted, as you both started your way toward the prize counter, “Perhaps, you simply missed it!”

“Othello von Ryan does not ‘simply miss it’!” he cried, holding a protective hand over his heart.

“No, but he does lose at air hockey,” you snickered, nudging him as you approached the counter. You looked over all the toys and gadgets hung up along the wall and displayed in the counter’s glass casing, pondering your choices. Among the outstanding selection behind the counter, there were various candies and fidget toys and stickers, along with slap bracelets and those rubbery, sticky hands and cheap-ass mood rings, while on the wall held Nerf guns, large stuffed animals, and other big prizes and toys (all much more expensive than the counter prizes).

Deciding that it would be a little too mean to bleed Donnie’s ticket wallet dry, you chose to stick to the counter selection, your eyes hooking on a few different prizes. But eventually, you settled on your choices. 

“Two of those,” you said, pointing at the small display box holding the mood rings.

“You sure?” Donnie asked, looking a bit surprised.

You nodded your head. “Yep.”

Donnie then turned from you to the worker behind the counter (who had been staring at him awkwardly for the whole time you stood there). “You heard them! Two of your finest mood rings!” he ordered in an exaggerated tone, making the worker roll their eyes and crouch down to fetch the rings, leaving you both to giggle like ten year olds at their reaction.

The worker appeared again with the rings and Donnie handed over all the tickets he had in his giant hoodie pocket, which honestly looked like a pitiful amount. 

You snorted. “Bad luck tonight?”

Donnie sent a sharp glare your way, but the last thing you felt was threatened. “No, actually—I have the rest to Mikey. Apparently he and Leo are trying to combine their tickets for one of the bigger prizes.”

“Awww, what a sweet big brother you are,” you mocked a coo, reaching over and repeatedly poking Donnie’s cheek. He groaned and shoved you away, effectively keeping you at arm’s length. “Ahahaha, imagine loving your brothers, couldn’t be me.”

“Shut up,” Donnie scoffed, giving you one last push before walking away.

“Aw hey! Wait up, I was just playing!” You cackled, grabbing your rings with your one free hand and ran after him. Keeping pace with him as you wandered the arcade, you thumbed over your new trinkets. You cupped out your hand and offered one to Donnie

“Here,” you said, watching him peer down at it as you slipped the other on your finger. Carefully, he took it and examined it, much like when he looked at his striker from earlier. With an amused smile, he slid it onto one of his own fingers and admired it for a moment. “There. I now declare you an honorary air hockey pro.”

“I feel privileged with the honor,” he chortled out, shaking his head slightly. You grinned, looking around the arcade as you listened to the music humming through the speakers as it transitioned from one song to another. 

“I got tequila! You got the powder! Big hips are rolling and voices getting louder!”

As the new song started its intro, you heard an onslaught of voices yell before you. You managed to send Donnie a quick glance before spinning around to see the gang running towards you, all in frailing panic.

“RUN!” April cried, as you noticed the security guards behind them and an angry worker standing next to a busted Lou Jitzu game.

“Take as much as you want, take more than you need—”

“Get back here! You have to pay for this!” The workers' voice shriveled over the music blaring through the arcade as the others rushed past you.

“C’mon!” Donnie hissed, grabbing your arm and dragging you behind him.

“But tonight we’re bringing this old town to its knees!”

The music continued to blare into your ears as you fought hard to keep up with Donnie and the others, just barely keeping a good few feet of distance between you and the security guards. You let yourself be jerked and pulled every which way as you maneuvered around other arcade cabinets and sweaty, confused gamers.

“Four more hours sleep and I nearly missed my set—”

“Guys! This way!” You heard Leo call up front as you all suddenly burst away from the crowd and into the wide open. You spotted the entrance you all came in through and instantly started booking it over when suddenly more workers and guards jumped in front of the way. 

“Now it’s midnight and I’m drinking with my friends!”

“Fuck!” You heard Casey curse as she led you all back away in a new direction. None of you hesitated to follow her.

“And I don't know where I'm gonna sleep tonight,

But I don't think I'm gonna sleep tonight because—”

You continued pressing on after the group, when you felt a hand grab the back of your collar, yanking back from the others.

“Ack!” You croaked, trying to work your way out of the security guard’s grip.

“(Y/n)!” You heard the others call for you as you tried to fight against the guard’s hold. But before anyone could move, a new force crashed into the guard and knocked his grasp loose. You shot away from the guard instantly and looked back, spotting Jeffery immediately.

“Jeff?!” You cried out as he pulled himself to his feet.

“Come on! I’ll show you guys to the back exit!” He yelled hastily, charging forward with a wave of his hand. You looked at the others, giving them a telling look before following after him.

You heard some more commotion from the guards and workers and gamers, but you tried to block it all out as you kept your eyes trained on Jeffery, clutching your stuffed animals close to your chest.

Jeffery weaved behind some old arcade cabinets and pulled open a door leading out an alleyway. 

“Out here! Quick!” He ordered out, gesturing you all through the door as you ran outside. The others were already running out of the alley when you glanced back towards him.

“Thanks man!” You called, tripping over your feet slightly as you spun back around.

“No prob!” He answered back, “See ya’, Bee Gees!” 

You rolled your eyes as you raced after the others, laughing wildly as you all jogged down the side wall.

“What the fuck was that!” You squawked out with a laugh once you had all gotten a good block away from the arcade.

“Casey—” Sunita huffed, venting over her knees as she caught her breath, “Casey broke one of the machines.”

“IT WOULDN’T GIVE ME THE JACKPOT.” Casey said bluntly, looking like she hadn’t even broken a sweat during that whole fiasco.

“Ah, I see,” you ran a hand through your hair, heart hammering in your chest as you took deep inhales. 

Once everyone had caught their breaths, you all began working your way back home, chatting idly with each other. As you walked, you found Donnie by your side once again.

“How’s your leg feeling?” He muttered, keeping his gaze up ahead.

“Oh,” you paused, glancing down at your foot as you only just then registered the slight hissing pain coming from your ankle. “Hurts a little,” you admitted, “But it’s not terribly bad.”

Donnie nodded his head and didn’t say anything more.

 It was all quiet and calm, everyone settling into a silent valley, when Leo suddenly spoke up.

“Y’know we’re totally gonna be banned from there, right?”

Chapter Text

“Man, and I thought I was imagining the stench last time,” you jested, fanning the odor away from your nose as you traveled next to April. 

She shook her head at you. “It’s a sewer for Christ’s sake—what made you think it would smell nice?” She retorted, making you grin.

“Self delusion?” You offered, giving a light shrug as you carried on through the disgusting sewer system. You approached the abandoned subway station, walking into the (still surprisingly) cozy atmosphere. It still felt unbelievable how much of a home they had made this place.

Immediately you spotted the boys hanging out around the main area—save for Donnie, you noticed.

“Hey!!” April immediately waved over to them as you walked into the lair, “Y’all ready to Jitsu it up?!”

“Ready? We’ve been ready all day while waiting for your sorry asses to get down here,” Leo chortled, setting down a comic book he was previously reading.

“Yeah, well sorry that some of us have jobs that we can’t just up and ditch,” you grinned, rolling your eyes to the side. 

“You say that like we don’t have jobs! Have you forgotten that we’re New York’s best and greatest protectors?”

“Oh, shove off, Leo,” April sniped back, “Did you forget we’re basically New York’s only protectors?”

“My point still stands.”

“Yeah, but this is coming from the guy who skips out on practically every patrol night,” Raph snickered, crossing his arms.

“Hey, hey, hey! I don’t ‘skip out,’” Leo argued, bringing his hands up in the air to make quotation marks, “I just go on.. small solo missions!”

“I don’t think running off to Hueso’s counts as a solo mission,” Mikey decided to chime in.

“You’re just mad I didn’t invite you to tag along,” Leo grinned, crossing his arms over his plastron, knowing he caught his brother in a standstill.

“Alright, alright.. let’s just go watch the movie, yeah?” April suggested, pushing you all towards the direction of the projection room, when a new voice cried from around the corner.

“Guys, we need to get the others over here immediately, I just got a call from Draxum—” you all turned just in time to see Donnie hastily slide into the room, a look of panic on his face as he glanced from his brothers to you, April, and Sunita. “Oh, good—you’re already here. I can get started right away.”

“Draxum? What did he want,” Mikey asked, as Leo exasperated.

“I knew we weren’t ever gonna get our marathon tonight,” he gasped dramatically, earning a knock on the shoulder from Raph.

“Quiet—Donnie, what’d Draxum say?” He asked, turning towards his other brother.

“Yeah, what’s up?” April asked as you all settled near him. “Is this about the whole Big Mama sitch?”

“Oh yeah, Big Mama.. that’s the lady with the.. webs, right?” you scrunched your nose in mild disgust. You wondered what kind of woman would keep a bunch of webs around for no reason?

“Precisely,” Donnie nodded, “He’s finally reached back to me about it, but.. well,” he grimaced and let out a sigh. “He informed me of his attempts to work out a deal with her for the webs, but after everything that happened a few years ago.. he was.. less than successful.”

The look on everyone’s faces fell. You furrowed your brows. 

“Can’t... we just ask her?” You suggested, feeling like you were stating the obvious.

“I mean, we coooouuuuld..” Mikey trailed off, as Leo leaned against him.

“But Big Mama isn’t exactly our biggest fan, y’know?” He finished, “If we were to ask, it'd be an instant no,” he said, snapping his fingers to show his point.

Donnie nodded.

“Yeah, and I don’t exactly feel comfortable telling the same woman who wanted to use the original oozquitoes for her Battle Nexus about these new, even worse bugs,” he said through gritted teeth.

You blinked. 

“What the fuck is a Battle Nexus—” you cut yourself off, “Actually, y’know what—never mind. So if we can’t go up and ask her, then.. What are we supposed to do? Weren’t the webs the only thing that could catch the bugs?”

“Well, I didn’t want it to come to this,” Donnie rubbed the bridge between his eyes. “but we don’t have a lot of options and this is the best card we have to play right now, so...” He sucked in a breath, taking a great inhale and exhale. “We may have to steal them.”

Leo huffed out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, because that worked so well last time! Seriously Donnie, are you crazy?”

“Just listen!” Donnie hissed back, “Draxum might not have been able to get us the webs, but he did manage to get us very valuable information. As it turns out, every year Big Mama hosts a big party for all her battle nexus sponsors—and it just so happens that it’s this weekend.”

“Don, you’re not actually saying we should break into the number one place we definitely shouldn’t be,” Raph looked down at him with a look of disbelief.

Surprisingly, a small smile wormed its way onto Donnie’s face. “Why break in when we can simply enter with our totally legit invites?” He asked, pulling out six crisp, golden tickets from behind his back, “I was able to hack into the invite list and intercept some of the tickets and reroute them to—ugh, never mind. Point is, I got us into the party.”

He looked around at the rest of you as you thought over this.. interesting proposal. It was absolutely batshit crazy—but something inside you wasn’t totally disinclined to go along with Donnie’s plan. 

You’d be honest, that night at the arcade had you thinking. Running into Jeffery opened your eyes to a few things—David’s ‘disappearance’ was just a one time issue (of course it wasn’t), almost a dozen people have gone missing this summer now—and no one had any explanation to where they could’ve gone. But you did. You knew all of this. You knew what happened to David, you knew what happened to all those other missing people. 

You’ve known for basically the entire summer and—and what have you done about it? People were dying out there while you were busy being all buddy buddy with a bunch of talking turtles. Fucking Jeffery was moving away because of all of this—and he didn’t even know what was really going on! 

Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was your wank moral compass, maybe it was the look in Jeffery's eye when he told you of his fears and suspicions of this place.

But whatever it was, it was driving you to do whatever you could to get rid of these oozquitoes—and whoever it was that brought them back. 

“Look, I don’t like this idea any more than you do, but we don’t have a lot of options,” Donnie spoke again, pulling you from your train of thought. “This will be the night that Big Mama will be the most distracted and our best chance at getting the webs.”

“She’ll be busy all night trying to take care of her sponsors!” Mikey suddenly jumped in, “We can just sneak away from the party and take the webs from her vault.”

“And we get to go to the party of a lifetime!” Leo grinned.

“I mean, things can’t go as bad as they did last time, right?” Raph shrugged with a smile. “Won’t have that Bullhop stealing my suit again, at least.”

This made everyone around you chuckle, leaving you to give your own quiet laughter as you silently pondered what the fucked a bullhop was and way it stole Raph’s suit.

“But what about us?” April said after a moment, “I doubt Big Mama invited any humans to her party. (Y/n) and I will stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Yeah, we’ll be busted before we even get inside,” you chimed in, folding your arms over your chest and rubbing your chin in thought. “What if we made some disguises? Like the ones the boys wore to the arcade?”

You all looked at each other with excited faces, and ecstatic energy bursting from each and everyone of you.

“Alright team,” Raph said, clapping his hands together, “We have until Sunday to prepare, so let’s get to work.”

You gasped at the sight in front of you.

“Okay, now I feel way underdressed,” you confessed, opening the door out to April as she walked in with a beautiful yellow dress. 

“Maybe that’s because you're still in your sweatpants,” April teased with a grin, “But thanks, Sunita helped me pick it out. Have you found anything to wear?”

“Yeah, it’s still in my room,” you answered, pointing your thumb over your shoulder, “I still don’t get where the ‘disguise’ part of our disguises are coming in. I just found what I wore to homecoming last year.”

This was not that much of a lie. You did buy it for homecoming, but for your freshman year. And you’d only managed to make it five minutes inside before nope-ing right out of there from all the overstimulation. You decided then and there that high school dances were a no-go. (And apparently some magician crashed the party that night and poor Taylor Martin’s float got wrecked, so maybe that was a close call on your part).

“Relax, relax! Sunita helped me out with that part too!” April said, holding up a small bag she’d brought in, “Now go get changed! I wanna see how you look!”

You rolled your eyes off to the side, slipping back down the hall and stepping back inside your room. After taking a few minutes to adorn your outfit, you took a quick moment to smooth it all out before shoving on your shoes and walking back out to the living room.

“Ta-da,” you gave in an unenthusiastic tone while doing the good ole jazz hands. 

April clapped in a small applause. “Stunning,” she complimented, “You clean up nice!”

“Pfft—tell me something I didn’t already know,” you mocked an arrogant air, mimicking a small hair flip and jutting out your hip. 

April scoffed at this and shook her head. “Oh god, you’re starting to sound like Donnie.” 

Immediately, you dropped the act, coiling up in disgust. “Ew, no. God, please no,” you gagged before quickly falling into light laughter. “If I even end up having an ego like his, shoot me.”

April rolled her eyes back, “Noted.” Quickly she straightened up and grabbed her bag, rummaging around inside it. “Okay, are you ready to see our disguises?!”

You couldn’t help but honestly feel a tad bit excited. Was it gonna be some cool, weird Yokai magic? Was it gonna be like Sunita’s cloaking brooch? Were you gonna be able to look like all those badass Yokai’s you saw down in the hidden city?! 

April pulled out two masquerade masks, one green, one black. Your excitement deflated a teeny, tiny bit.

“Aren’t they cool?! We found them in some market in town! Here, try yours on,” April said quickly, shoving the black small into your grasp. 

It was beautiful, you’d admit. It was big enough that it’d probably cover most of the upper half of your face, with small intricate details etched in the mask and painted with gold accents. Most interestingly enough, two , stiff deer-like horns stretching out from the top, with tips decorated with the same golden accents on the main part of the mask. 

April’s mask seemed to be almost exactly the same, except with yellow accents instead of gold and curvy horns instead of stiff. 

Hesitantly, you slid on your new mask, letting it sit perfectly on your face. “Well?”

“Aah! Looking good, (y/n)! Just—uh, here,” April stepped closer, brushing some of your hair so it’d fall over the top of the mask, making it look a touch more natural. “There! As long as no one looks too closely at us, they shouldn’t suspect a thing!”

“Let’s hope you're right about that,” you said, pulling out your phone and examining yourself through the camera. 

It was honestly quite convincing—despite literally just being a mask, but you felt as though it wasn’t enough. You were going into pure enemy territory, as Donnie had warned you all, risks should be taken as little as possible. If you wanted to conceal your human identities, you would need more than just a mask.

“Hold on, I have something we can add,” you said, quickly remembering something from your aunt’s room. “C’mon,” you waved her over, sliding off your mask.

You zipped down the hall again, April hit on your trail and you stormed into Aunt Lynn’s room. Thankful she was out again, so you could freely raid the place without being caught—not that you’d think she’d especially mind you borrowing something. But what would you say when she’d ask why you needed something from her closet? “Oh, it’s nothing, dear aunt of mine! I just need to borrow something because I’m just going to some super rich social event night full of monsters you couldn’t even imagine of and I’m gonna steal some lady’s webs so I can catch some weird, freaky bugs with my weird, freaky turtle friends before they turn the whole city into even more monsters! Again, no biggie!”

Yeah. No.

You don’t want to be responsible for your aunt’s heart attack.

You yanked open her closet door and began digging through her clothes, pushing back a few shirts and dresses before you finally found it—stuffed in the back, on the far left corner sat a dusty, long forgotten box. Easily, you picked up the box and set it on your aunt’s bed, with April hovering over your shoulder as she watched.

The box was still in a fine condition, like it hadn’t been touched in years, which it hadn’t. The flaps were still folded shut and the side faced you and April had an all too familiar name written on the front in big, bold sharpie that made your heart squeeze far too much. 

Swallowing the cage building in your throat, you pulled open the top and instantly recognized the items inside. First were a few old Star Trek action figures, followed by a couple of well kept Sci-Fi comics and a glass mason jar full of colorful DnD dice. The next of the contents was a large scrapbook, but you already knew the thing inside and out, so you spent no time looking it over. You took out all of these and went back to the box, your eyes landing on what you had been searching for. 

Folded up just like they had been when they were first stuffed in there were two small cloaks. Both were long enough to reach someone’s mid-back and buttoned closed in the front with identical bronze clasps. The only major difference between the cloaks was one being a rich, dark green color with a small embroidered L right over where the wearer’s heart out be, while the other was more like a deep, charcoal gray with a sewn letter J instead. 

“Here, these are my aunt’s. She used to use some for her DnD character,” you said, handing April the rich green one. “It’s not much, but it’s the best we have for now.”

Carefully, she examined the soft fabric, before looking back up at you with an amused expression. “I didn’t know your aunt cosplayed,” she teased, a grinning growing in her face.

“Heh, yeah. She used to be a bit of a nerd. How’d you think I ended up being this way,” you joked, giving a light shrug as you draped the other cloak over your shoulders and fastening the button, slipping the mask back on and tugging the hood over your head. “Well?”

“Edgy as fuck,” April said, snickering, “But effective! Good thinking.” She quickly fixed her own cloak and mask, “God, I feel so cool. Like an undercover spy.”

You put back all the other items that came out of the box and slid it back into its spot in the closet’s corner.

“I mean, technically we are, right?” You said, leading April back out into the living room, “Anyway, should we start heading down to the lair—” 

Just as you were about to finish, suddenly a wavey, electric, blue oval opened up in front of the Tv, lightning spouting out from inside it.

“HOLY SHIT—” you squawked, nearly falling over as April helped keep you up right.

Before either of you could say anything, a green figure emerged from the circle and stepped onto the living room carpet. You stared at it for a moment, feeling your eye twitch.

“Ooooh!” Leo whistled, gazing around your apartment, “Nice place you got here!” 

“Wha—I don’t—I can’t—It’s too goddamn early for this,” you moaned, despite the fact that it was only an hour shy of midnight. You slipped off your mask so you could properly glare at him, “What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?!”

“Oh, I thought we could just pick you and April up at your place instead of waiting forever for you guys, and Donnie told me where your apartment was so—” he leaned against the big ass sword he had, “Figured I just portal you guys over to the rendezvous.”

Portal. Leo can make portals. Why are you even surprised?

You let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of your nose. “April, remind me to punt Donnie when we meet with the others.”

She snorted. “Will do,” she quipped as she looked back over at Leo and his portal (you still could hardly believe a portal was in your living room). “Well, don’t you clean up well?” She teased, pointing out Leo’s attire, consisting of a well fitted tuxedo and a sharp blue tie (because of course it was blue. These guys love their color schemes)..

“I know, right? I completely forgot I owned one of these,” he said, looking down at his outfit with an excited grin, “And I should say the same to you guys. We are going to look asombroso tonight!”

You rolled your eyes at the compliment, but could help the smile creeping up along your face. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” you waved him off, “Let’s just go, yeah?”

“Well, after you,” he smirked, gesturing to the glowing portal behind him. You looked over at it with a hesitant glare, fiddling with the mask in your hands.

“And you're sure we won’t get vaporized or some shit if we go through?” You asked carefully, giving him a suspicious eye. 

“Trust me, patrols are my thing. I know what I’m doing,” Leo said over confidently, before casually looking off to the side, “You’ll be fine!.. probably.”

You stared up at him, a sudden wave of deja vu crashing over you. 

“What—” you started, as Leo put a hand on your shoulder.

“In you go!” He churred, shoving you inside.

One moment you were flying through a pulsing, shocking blue tunnel, the next you were eating cold, hard cement. 

“Oh, for fucks sake,” you grumbled into the ground, hearing light laughter above you. Groaning, you pushed yourself up and found the rest of his brothers standing before you. Picking yourself up and dusting off your outfit, as you found yourself standing in the middle of some dank, musty alleyway. You turned back towards the portal just in time to see April and Leo step through before it zapped back out of existence. 

“See? I told you you’d be fine!” Leo cheered, draping an arm over your shoulder.

You grimenced and nudged him away with your elbow.

“Yeah, do that again and Donnie won’t be the only one I’m punting tonight.

“ What? What have I done?!” Donnie hissed, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Guy! Focus,” Raph hissed, making everyone turn towards him. “Don, give us a run down of the situation.”

Donnie rolled his eyes and gave out his typical ‘scoff’ before pulling back the sleeve of his tux and typing on his wrist tablet. 

“Alright, we are currently just across from Big Mama’s hotel. All we have to do is get inside with the invites I snagged without being caught and sneak away from the party undetected—which sounds easy in theory, but Big Mama is known for her high security—especially after what happened the last time we crashed her party. So she’s most definitely taken every precaution and has bellhops stationed around every corner. It’ll be practically impossible to sneak away without being caught—” you all slumped at this news, before Donnie continued, “However, every year at these things, she gives a huge speech for her sponsors as a show of thanks—and it's here when everyone’s attention will be on her, which will give us the perfect opportunity to slip away with being noticed and ample time to find her vault.”

He paused, taking a moment to gosh something out of his pocket. “And here are everyone’s invites, this is our only way in so don't lose these,” Donnie continued, passing each of you one of the golden tickets, giving Mikey a stone cold stare as he spoke.

“Great!” Mikey grinned, oblivious to Donnie’s threat careful warning, “Now, let’s get down there and steal some web goo!” 

Donnie responded with a roll of his eyes, causing you all to chuckle as you journeyed out of the alley and across the abandoned street.

Once you got inside, you quickly adjusted your mask and hood, your heart suddenly pounding in your chest. Because holy shit, holy shit—you were actually doing this. Don’t chicken out now, (l/n)—remember, you were doing this for David and Jeffery. 

Leo led you all through the nearly empty lobby and towards a set of stairs leading up to an elevator, a confidence skip in his step. You stopped in front of the bronze doors and watched as they pulled open, revealing a short, stubby man. He took one look at the lot of you before grinning and pressing a small button on his bellhop suit, causing a whirlwind of swirling blue color to encase him for a brief moment. Then, just where the man had once stood was a grinning purple octopus with a small, bird-like beak. 

“More guests!” He practically cheered, “What floor?”

You all glanced at each other nervously as you filed into the elevator (which was very hard to do considering how goddamn small it was). 

“We’re here for the sponsors' social, my good sir!” Leo stepped up with a posh accent, snatching the golden invite out from his pocket and showing it off to the octopus. The rest of you quickly followed suit, each of you fumbling as you shoved your shiny little tickets into his face.

He took a flabbergasted moment to examine each of them before smiling back up at you all. (How does one smile with a literal beak for a mouth? Another question, why does one who is an octopus have a beak? The world may never know.) He then gave you an eager nod of his head as he pushed a button next to the elevator door, making them shut.

As soon as they did, color suddenly began to spread up the walls, decorating the elevator with lush, vibrant hues that dramatically outdid the plain and boring browns and yellows and reds from before. You took a moment to admire the elevator as you felt it jolt to life, when you felt someone’s gaze. You turned awkwardly to the side, noticing the way Donnie was looking at you. 

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” you grunted with a teasing grin, peering up at him as you watched his face shift to a flustered, baffled expression. He opened his mouth to defend himself, but quickly found his composure.

“Is that the best you could do on such short notice?” He spat under his breath, gesturing to your attire.

“Are those the best you could do on such short notice?” You retorted, pointing up accusingly at his drawn on, sharpie eyebrows.

“Scoff,” he scoffed, tucking his arms firm across his chest.

“Yep,” you replied, looking back towards the elevator doors just as the lift shook to a halt. Slowly, the doors pulled open, displaying an incredibly gorgeous, incredibly large ballroom, filled to the brim with Yokai of all kinds. Music played from the small stage at the front of the room, the band playing on stage oddly enough—80s cover songs. The center of the room was a giant dance floor with flashing lights.

Jaw dropped in awe, you exited the elevator and scanned the room in sheer amazement—never in your life had you been in a room this elegant-looking. 

“So, now what?” You asked in a hushed voice, still reeling from—well, everything.

“Now, we party!” Leo jumped, knocking you by your shoulder as he rushed towards the crowd and pulled some poor, innocent Yokai into a dance, immediately making the others groan.

“I’m starting to think he’s only in on this for the ball,” Mikey huffed lightly, an amused smile just barely meeting his eyes.

“You’re only just now thinking that?” Donnie snipped back, looking rather bored before going back to his tablet.

“So much for keeping a low profile,” you heard Raph grumble under his breath, as you all watch Leo break into the middle of the dance floor. “Meet back here Big Mama’s speech, okay everyone? And for God’s sake, don’t get caught.”

It was here that you all split up. Raph hung around in the back away from other guests, while Mikey and April wasted no time joining Leo in a dance and Donnie was off doing.. something. He mumbled something about scanning the building for a good exit point, but you didn’t really know (or care). But that left you on your own, fumbling with where to go and what to do now.

This is why you hated dances. Everyone knew what to do and how to move and what to say and you were left out trying not to be embarrassed for wearing fancy dress shoes. Everyone was always in their own groups and you wondered how they all knew where they were supposed to go, like there was a rehearsal and you had forgotten to come. And while this technically wasn’t your average high school prom, it was pretty damn close.

“Refreshment?” You nearly jumped out of your skin when you turned and spotted one of the many servers running around the ballroom, calling trays of appetizers and—much like this one—refreshments. 

You glanced at him for a moment, registering the chicken like Yokai before you as you shifted your gaze towards the silver tray in his hand. On it were several slim, tall glasses of some strange, neon liquid that reminded you heavily of Mountain Dew. The posh Yokai held his head up high as you internally debated with yourself before you gave a jerky nod and carefully took one of the many glasses.

“Thank you,” you choked out as the server walked away, before staring at the drink in your hand. Cautiously, you took a whiff. It didn’t smell alcoholic, or bad in general—so what’s the harm? (Besides it probably not being made for human consumption and causing you to have cancer or something, but it’s fine.)

Watching April and the boys from a distance, you took a small, slow sip of the odd concoction, before finding yourself trying not to vomit. Mountain Dew already tasted like battery acid but this. This was just—oh, God.

You pulled the glass from your lips, giving a small gag as you tried to fight off the nausea flooding your system.

Oh. Oh, fuck that.

“Heh, yeah, that stuff will do that to you,” a new voice commented, making you turn your head again to find an older looking, axolotl Yokai staring down at you with a bemused smile. 

Oh no. People. Another thing you hated about parties. 

“No kidding,” you awkwardly added, trying desperately to find an escape route. You pulled the glass to your lips again—fit in, just try and fit in. Just down the stupid drink, you idiot—

You took another gulp and instantly became repulsed again. 

Yeah. No. None of that. 

“You know you don’t have to drink it,” the axolotl said gently, giving you a concerned glance.

“Yep. Yep, I knew that—“ you said, fighting back a gag. “I just, love the taste of chemicals.”

The axolotl gave you a questioning look before peering back towards the party. “I’m excited for this evening. I wasn’t able to attend the last one, y’know. Heard it was a real ball.”

“Oh, uhm.. yeah??” You looked up at her confused, wondering why on Earth she was still talking to you.

Then you remembered—this wasn’t just a party, it was a social. A get-together. And people talk at these get-togethers. This Yokai was making small talk with you.

Small talk.. small talk! You can do small talk! You’ve basically mastered small talk. You’ve trained for this! You’re a natural at small talk. This will be a piece of cake, a walk in the park!

…

Oh, who were you fucking kidding—

“Really?” You piped up, cringing when your voice began to crack. “This is, uh—my first one.”

“Is that right? How long have you known Big Mama?” The axolotl asked you with friendly eyes, though whether meaning to or not had placed you into very dangerous territory. How did you know Big Mama, a web-hoarding woman you’ve never even met?

“Oh, well—uhm,” you stammered. Think (y/n), for once in your god forsaken life— use that smooth, smooth brain of yours. “Well, I’m—er,” you watched as the Yokai slowly shifted her expression to a puzzled look, as you desperately tried to think of something. What was the battle thing Big Mama had..? The Battle Nest? No—

“Oh, uhm—not long ,” You squeaked out, almost going to take another sip of your drink out of pure instinct before stopping yourself. “What about you?” you asked, flying by the seat of your pants as you hoped to shift the conversation away from you.

“Oh, a good few years now. We go a ways back—back when the Nexus had only been around for a few years. Oh, it was a mess back then, but don’t tell Big Mama I said that. She’d have my head!” She laughed, leaving you to awkwardly copy before she suddenly stopped and gave you a dead set look. “I wasn’t joking about that.”

You gulped.

The Yokai narrowed her eyes at you then, as leaned back. “Forgive me, but you seem rather.. young to be a sponsor of this sort,” the axolotl spoke carefully, eyeing you down with a suspicious frown.

“Oh—uhm…” shit. Shit, shit shit. Just make something up—just say something, anything—for the love of god and all things holy, just say something—

“Excuse me?” Oh, fucking Christ—what now?

You turned your head to see the third stranger to scare the shit out of you tonight, when you saw it wasn’t a stranger at all.

“Evening, fellow associates—I hate to intrude but I was wondering if I could perchance bother this fine Yokai here for a dance?” Donnie asked, holding his head high as he spoke in a fake posh accent, gesturing to you lightly with his hand. 

You stared at him with a bewildered look as the axolotl blinked. 

“Oh!” She flashed you a quick glance, “No, of course not.” She said, stepping away as she flashed you a knowing smile that made your ears suddenly start to burn. “I should not want to intervene.” She looked at you both expectantly, making you turn back to Donnie’s outstretched hand.

“What say you?” Donnie asked you again, as you noticed the stone cold stare he was giving you, willing you to take his hand and, in turn, his offer. You realized almost instantly what he was doing—he was saving you from blowing your cover and making a total ass of yourself.

You silently debated your options. Get caught by Big Mama’s sponsor and blow the mission and possible be thrown into her Battle Nest..? Or dance with Donnie?

…That Battle Nest seemed really appealing right now.

But regardless, you let out a sigh and took his hand. It was cold—and it felt so odd to hold a three fingered hand.

“I..suppose,” you finally said, glancing back at the axolotl as you felt yourself practically being dragged away. You caught the Yokai’s embarrassing look as she gave a small, polite wave goodbye.

“Enjoy the venue, you two,” she said with a knowing, teasing voice, making your insides burn. 

You let Donnie lead you onto the dance floor, weaving between the pairs of dancing couples to put some distance between you and the axolotl. 

“You’re welcome,” he said suddenly, making you shoot a glare his way.

“I had that under control,” you hissed, making him look back at you as you stopped on an empty spot on the dance floor.

“Sure,” he gave you a bored look, “You totally weren’t fumbling around like an absolute moron.”

“I was not fumbling. I was doing fine,” you said, pulling your hand from his once you realized there wasn’t a need for it anymore. You were away from the Yokai, you didn’t have to keep up the act.

You watched as Donnie casted a glance at his empty hand before keeping his eyes locked with yours. “And for some reason, I don’t seem to believe you,” he shot back, crossing his arms over his chest.

“God, shouldn’t you be scanning the quantum realm or whatever nerd thing you were doing before?”

“I wasn’t—Whatever, I’m done with that now—” Donnie began to reply, before he was promptly interrupted by someone knocking into him.

“Woah! Watch it Dee,” Leo grinned, jostling his brother, “If you’re not gonna dance, get off the dance floor! I’m tryin’ to strut my stuff over here!”

Donnie huffed. “Oh, no need for the warning. I was just going—” he said curtly, beginning to turn away from the both of you.

“Awe, leaving so soon?” You said in a teasing voice, “But I thought you wanted to dance with me?” You grinned, watching as Leo gave a wildly amused look to Donnie.

“Yeah, c’mon Don! Dance with poor ole (y/n)!” Leo called, sliding back into the crowd as he grooved. 

“Wah—I only did that to save your ass,” Donnie gritted back to you. “Fine, whatever,” Donnie relented, “One song,” he allowed, holding out a hand to you. 

“Nah, I’m good,” you declined with a sick grin, watching as he stared at you with a baffled expression. 

“But—you just said—”

“I was kidding,” you smiled up at him, holding an almost sincere look. “I’m not much of a dancer,” you were willing to admit, “At least not compared to the ace on the team,” you chuckled, gesturing out towards him.

“Yes, you can. I’ve seen you dance before,” he pointed out, his hand still holding out his offer.

“I don’t think shaking my ass to ABBA counts as ballroom dancing,” you said, shaking your head.

Donnie snickered at this. “Maybe not,” he concurred, “But I can show you. It’s not hard.”

It’s not hard. Yeah, maybe for someone who didn’t have two left feet. 

“Fine,” you gave in, taking his hand, “But you can’t get mad when I smash your foot with my shoe.”

Donnie’s face scrunched up in a humored way, light laughed escaping his lips. A small part of yourself felt proud. 

“You won’t,” he said.

The cover band on stage (which appeared to be a group of various different kinds of rodent Yokai, fittingly named Dig) began to play the intro to “Atomic.”

“We’ll see,” you grinned, before Donnie suddenly yanked your arm, pulling you into a dance of all his own. 

You watched as he moved freely, his feet gliding over the floor as he improvised different dance moves.

“C’mon! I’m not going to dance by myself!” He chided, urging you to dance along as well. “Just don’t think about it!” He quickly added, grabbing your hand and spinning you around. 

“That’s easy for you to say!” You called over the music, trying to match the way Donnie’s body moved, “You’re the natural here!” 

“That is true,” he snickered, before you foot caught on his, making you stumble back. 

Before you could fall however, you felt a firm grip land on your wrist, keeping you from tumbling to the ground. You looked up at Donnie with sheer amazement as you tried to balance yourself on the back of your heels.

“You weren’t kidding,” Donnie chortled, pulling you back up right, “You’re horrible at this.”

“You’re an ass,” you snarked back, unable to fight back the grin on your face.

“You wouldn’t be the first to tell me that,” he smirked, making you roll your eyes.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” you hummed, catching the harmless glare Donnie sent your way as the song ended and a new one picked up—a honestly impressive cover of “Heaven or Las Vegas”.

“Welp, there’s my dance,” you snickered, beginning to pull away as Donnie freezed up.

“Oh c’mon, you were just getting the hang of it,” he insisted, giving you a certain look you couldn’t quite place.

“Hey, you were the one who said only one song,” you cheekily reminded, as Donnie glanced away.

“Yes.. I suppose I did, but I’m not totally opposed to another one.. if you aren’t.”

You felt your expression soften for a brief moment, as you heaved another forfeiting sigh and continued letting him pull you into another dance.

“Is that.. are you wearing that mood ring from the other night?” He suddenly asked, looking down at your hand as he tried (and failed) to hide his laughter.

You felt your ears burn slightly for mild embarrassment. “Listen, I don’t own a lot of jewelry, alright?” You said, pulling your other hand away momentarily to fix your mask, as it had slipped a bit while you were dancing.

“No, of course you don’t. That’s why you simply had to resort to a cheap, plastic ring.”

“Yeah, but it’s a cheap, plastic ring that can tell me my mood,” you said, “So, beat that.”

“Ah, yes, how foolish of me to forget,” he threw his eyes to the side as he shook his head.

You opened your mouth to add something, when a horrible screeching sound of a microphone echoed through the speakers, drawing everyone’s attention to the stage up front. The band had stopped playing them and a figure stood up on center stage, a microphone stand set before her.

You noticed the way Donnie stiffened beside you, immediately telling you what you had been suspecting. 

“Hello, hello? Oh goodles,” she spoke into the mic, testing its waters before giggling in a way that sent a shiver down your spine. “Good evening everyone! I simply must thank you all for coming. Oh, I do hope everyone is having a splendiferous time.”

You stared up at the woman on stage because goddamn—

But as you studied her, you realized how.. normal she looked. Well, not normal (her skin was fucking purple for crying out loud), but she looked like your average, regular rich lady, with poofy hair and silky attire and a posh voice. You had no clue how such a nice looking woman could run something called a Battle Nexus.

“Now please, give me a sec-aroo to get myself more comfortable,” she spoke again, pulling away from the microphone. Before you could even begin to question what she meant by that, a swirling blue tornado surrounded her, kicking up a small gust of wind around the room. Once the whirlwind settled, you nearly fainted at the new figure that towered on stage.

Because in Big Mama’s place was the biggest spider you’d ever seen in your entire fucking life.

Chapter Text

Spider. She was an actual spider.

Of course she was an actual fucking spider. 

“C’mon, we gotta go find the others,” you heard Donnie say as you gazed up at the giant spider Yokai on stage. A terrible churning feeling began to settle in your stomach, and for the second time that night you wanted to vomit.

“She’s a spider,” Your breathing hitched.

“Yeah, no shit. Now let’s go.”

You felt Donnie tug at your arm, but you were unmoving.

“Would now be a bad time to mention that I’m deathly afraid of spiders?”

You felt Donnie’s stare. “You’re kidding.”

You shook your head. You heard him sigh.

“Great. That’s just— ” he cut himself off with a grumble. If the fearful adrenaline hadn’t been rushing through your veins already, you would’ve winced in guilt. 

But then suddenly, you felt Donnie grab your shoulder and force your eyes away from the stage. 

“Hey, just focus on what’s in front of us right now—er, well, metaphorically. We’re on a mission right now. Focus,” he said firmly, but with a soft edge in his tone. You took a breath and allowed Donnie’s words to wash over you.

He was right. You were on a mission. You needed to get those stupid webs so you could catch those stupids bugs so you could save the stupid city. You needed to make it a safe place for people like Jeffery, and you needed to make up for what happened to David, and all those poor people that got bitten—or worse. This was what you had to do now. 

Even if it meant stealing from a giant fucking spider lady.

“Right,” you said, “Sorry, I’m good. Let’s go.”

Donnie stared at you for a moment longer before giving a curt nod. “Nothing to be sorry for,” he said off handedly, craning his head as he searched the crowd for his brothers and sister. “Here, they’re just over there. C’mon.”

Big Mama continued on with her speech, her voice raging on through the speakers about all the future plans for her Battle Nexus and how thankful she was for her sponsors. You did your best to ignore her, keeping your eyes trained on Donnie—when suddenly he stopped with a huff.

“Damnit—I lost them!” He hissed under his breath, frantically scanning around the room. 

“You lost them?!” You gritted your teeth, “Fuck, okay, let’s try looking over here—oof!” You spun on your heel, immediately colliding with the figure behind you. 

You backed away, your eyes trailing up at the tall owl Yokai that was now in front of you. Beside him was a plump, otter Yokai, wearing the same red bellhop uniform as him.

“Oh, apologies ‘bout that,” the owl dipped his head, his voice laced with a heavy accent, when the otter beside him nudged his arm and pointed towards Donnie.

“Eyyyy, innit that one of them ‘urtes Big Mama don’ like?” The otter huffed, as the owl adjusted his gaze at the mutant beside you. 

“Uuuhh…” you flashed your eyes between Donnie and the Yokai, unsure what to do, when Donnie yanked your wrist and quickly dragged you away from the owl and otter. 

“Oi! Stop right there!” The owl hooted, pointing after you accusingly as he grabbed the whole room’s attention and placed it straight on you two.

So much for staying undercover.

Donnie continued to pull you along as you weaved away from the audience and the rapidly approaching security. 

“Shit!” You heaved, watching as five different security guard were hot on your tail, “Donnie—”

“I’m on it!” He called back to you, racing up to a part of the wall that stuck out with lime green tiles, knocking his fist against. Immediately, the tiles responded, each one shrinking down out of existence. 

Your jaw dropped as you peered into the room inside. The ceiling stretched several feet into the air, with tall, curving pillars. Large, transparent orbs were set up amongst the room, all playing some sort of video on the ‘screens’, with who you assumed were hotel residents surrounding them.

But you didn’t have time to admire it, as Donnie soon yanked the both of you inside.

“Raph! Guys? Can you hear us?” Donnie yelled into his arm tablet as you continued running from the guards.

“Donnie? Where are you?!” You heard Raph’s panicked voice from the other end.

“Where are we! Where are you?” Donnie hissed back, “Look, we’re in the sporting lounge, but we’ve been found out. You need to head up to the seventeenth floor, that’s where Big Mama’s office is. We’ll try to meet you there,” he said into the tablet.

“You’re WHAT—”

“Uh—” before Donnie could respond, you felt your feet tumble out from under you, causing you to both go crashing into the floor. 

“Ughh,” you groaned, pushing yourself up and looking back, noticing you were now surrounded by both guards and guests alike. “Oops.”

You felt the stares of the whole crowd on you, when you realized. Gazing down at the ground beside you, you saw your mask looking back at you mockingly. Double oops.

Your stomach dropped as you peered back up at the forming crowd, with security slowly creeping towards the both of you.

“It’s a human!” You heard someone from the crowd gasp in the midst of all the gossiping whispers. And that really set it off.

Immediately, screams of horror sounded throughout the lounge as the guests went into a full on panic, running and scampering and ramming into each other in an attempt to flee from the all terrifying human before them. In this scene of pure, uncontrolled chaos, guests large and small began to block the guards off, knocking them away from the circle of disorder. 

You felt Donnie pull you up, making you reach for your mask before following after him.

“Now what?!” You called over the mayhem.

“Hold on, hold on,” He barked back, typing on the tablet screen as you dodged and weaved between hotel guests. “There! There should be a doorway just over there.”

“There should be?!”

“Just come on!”

You wheezed out a breath and gave one final push in an effort to keep up with Donnie’s pace, your sides crying out in sharp, cramping pain. 

Like the entrance from before, there was another green tiled wall just in front of  you. Donnie slammed his fist violently into the tiles, making them dissolve instantaneously and revealing a long, stretching hallway. It looked more reminiscent of an actual hotel, and you figured that’s where you were. Racing down the hall, you passed probably a dozen different doors before you grabbed Donnie’s shoulder.

“In here!” You said, pointing at one of the doors and yanking him inside.

You burst inside the room and quickly went to block the door. You held your breath when you heard loud, quaking footsteps rush past the room, before slumping down to the floor.

“Holy shit,” you coughed, fighting hard to catch deep, even breaths.

“Yeah—” Donnie panted, nodding his head “yeah.”

You took a moment before rising to your feet again and glancing around the room. There were several washers and dryers—some running, some not, and a few cloth hampers placed near a laundry shoot that hung from the ceiling—and you deduced that you were in some sort of laundry room for the hotel.

“Now what,” you said, walking over to one of the dryers that still had bed sheets in it and peering inside.

“Now,” Donnie gasped for a breath, looking down at his tablet again, “Now I need to find us a way to Big Mama’s office without getting caught by her bellhops.”

You studied him for a moment, watching the way his brows furrowed intensely before you casted your eyes back to the bed sheets.

God, why did you have to fuck up back there? Maybe if you hadn’t tripped—or um run into those bellhops back in the ballroom, you could still find the others. 

This was only your first mission with the guys—and it was probably going to be your last.

You frowned, silently continuing to beat yourself up, when something caught your gaze. An idea struck.

“I think I have something that can help with that,” you grinned, turning back to Donnie.

He caught the look on your face and grimenced. “Oh no.”

You pushed the laundry hamper through the door and down the hall, taking a strand of hair back into the workers hat you snagged and adjusted your mask back over your face. You tugged at the tight fitting staff clothes you found, trying to loosen the collar around your neck. Your senses were overrun with uncomfortable textures, but you pressed on with the large hamper full of bed sheets and clean towels. 

You turned the corner and nearly jumped out of your skin when you found two figures suddenly in front of you.

“Oop! Sorry ‘bout that mates!” You looked up at the familiar owl and otter Yokai, speaking with a fake accent. “Wasn’ watching where I was goin’.”

You gave a nervous smile as the peered down at you with suspicious eyes.

“I’s don’ reckon I’ve seen yous ‘round here,” the owl muttered, hardening his glare.

“Ya’s, I don’t reckon I either!” Added the otter.

“Oh, wells—” you stammered, pulling on your shirt collar again. “I’m one of the new hires!” You reasoned, watching them carefully, “Speaking of, any of you’s know how to get to the seventeenth floor? I gots to take these sheets to some of the rooms.”

The owl glared at you harder.

“They’s ain’t any rooms up on seventeenth,” he huffed out. You felt sweat begin to head around your covered forehead.

“Oh, really’s? I, er—I think I meant sixteenth. Sorry, lads, I tend to jumble up my numbers, y’know. Good ole dyscalculia getting the best of me these days.”

Please, please, please for the love of god—

The owl snorted again, but before he could say anything, the otter was quick to speak up.

“Oh yes, felt you there, mate,” he nodded his head sorrowfully, “you’re just gonna wanna go down this ‘allway here and then you’re-a gonna take another left, then it should just be there. Can't miss it.”

“Oi, thank you! Have a swell evening, fellas!” You cheered, pushing the hamper past the both of the Yokai bellhops and waving them goodbye. They returned it, though the otter was much more eager than the owl. 

“I can’t believe that actually worked.”

“Yeah, well last time I checked, I don’t believe bed sheets can talk,” you hissed through gritted teeth, ramming your foot into the hamper.

“OW.”

You smiled.

Continuing down the hallway, you followed the otter’s directions and eventually found the elevator he spoke of. You pressed a button to summon the lift and once the doors pulled open, you scrambled inside with the hamper.

“Alright, alright… seventeen.. seventeen,” you mumbled, searching the buttons on the wall as the doors slid shut. You paused. “Uh oh.”

“Uh no? Why did you say ‘uh oh’?”

“Well, looks like we really are going to the sixteenth floor,” you huffed, as a familiar head poked out from the linens.

“What??” Donnie frowned, scanning the numbered buttons. “Are you serious.”

“Dead,” you confirmed. “But no worries, it’s just a one floor difference, right? We can just find a set of stairs or something. No biggie,” you shrugged it off, pressing the labeled ‘16’ button and feeling the elevator shake to life. 

“I suppose,” Donnie heaved out a sigh, pulling his arms from the sheets and checking his tablet once more. “I’ll try to check in with the others. Maybe they’re having better luck than us.”

“I’d say we’re having some pretty good luck—” you started to say, only to be interrupted by the elevator going to a sudden halt. Okay, there was no way you were already there—you glanced up at the small digital screen over the doors, seeing that you’ve stopped at the ninth floor. That means someone else was getting on.

You sucked in a nervous breath and stoved Donnie’s head back into hamper as the elevator doors slowly pulled open again. “Get down—get down!” You hissed, covering him with one of the sheets. 

You tensed your shoulders, staring anxiously at the doors as you spotted two figures before you. You flinched back.

“Guys?!” You shrilled, staring back at the two panting teens that were April and Leo.

“HURRY!” April hissed, as she and Leo pushed their way inside. You raised a brow towards them before looking back into the hallway and feeling a wave of pure horror crash over you, as you watched a big, dog-like Yokai with spikes protruding out of his shoulders and head racing towards the elevator.

“CLOSE THE DOOR,” April shouted.

“CLOSING. I’M CLOSING.” you screamed, repeatedly pressing the ‘close door’ button as you flashed your gaze back and forth from the button panel to the dog. 

“CLOSE FASTER!!” You heard Leo cry.

“I’M TRYING.”

“TRY HARDER.”

“YOU MOTHERFU—”

You jumped back with a large, drooling face shot into the elevator, a claw reaching in and swiping at you all. The dog Yokai fought hard to squeeze himself inside, but found that he could only stick himself through so far.

“What’s going on—OH MY GOD,” Donnie shrieked, peeking his head out from the cart only to drive right back in.

“Hey brainiac! Got any genius plan to get us out of here?!” You huffed, kicking at the hamper.

“Donatello is not here at the moment. Leave a message after the beep—”

“OH, FUCK OFF—”

You took a brief moment to roll your eyes, using the time to scan the elevator for a plan. You glanced again at the hamper, then back up at the dog—as the thrashed and barked and slobbered and clawed—then back to the hamper.

If you survived this, Donnie was going to kill you.

“FOR NARNIA!” You battle-cried, gripping onto the cart’s handle and shoving the hamper at high speeds into the Yokai, knocking him away from the lift’s entrance. Kicking off the ground with full force, you dashed out of the elevator and down the hallway, with Leo and April—and of course the dog—hot on your trail.

“HAHA. Great thinking, (y/n)!” Leo grinned from behind you.

“Thanks! Now can someone kindly tell me who the fuck that is?!” You seethed, continuing to lead the group around a corner, the ground shaking beneath your feet as the dog-Yokai followed close behind.

Donnie poked his head back up from the sheets. “That would be Gus,” he spoke matter-of-factly, head held high. 

Gus. This dude was probably the third scariest thing you’ve ever seen in you life (first being a the between Mr. Killer Badger and Queen Spider Lady), and his name was Gus. 

“Now what?!” April screeched as she heaved just behind you. Donnie began to type on his tablet.

“There should be a staircase around here!” He called over the chaos, looking down the hall to see it splitting off into two separate directions. “Up ahead! Take a left!”

“On it!” You gave a curt nod, tilting the hamper slightly as you sharply pushed it down the left hallway. You turned the cart l, spotting a large, metal door at the end of the hall. You barrel through the hallway, pushing the hamper into the door and bursting into the stairwell. The cart slammed into the railing, making you come to a sudden halt as Leo and April crashed into you. 

“Ughhh..” you grounded, finding that the hamper handlebar had nailed you right in the stomach upon impact. The ground shook, making you jerk your head up and look back through the door. Your eyes widened when you spotted the large, hairy dog bound towards you all.

“MOVE,” you hissed, jumping out of the way and tumbling to the ground, the hamper crashing down beside, now tipped over with all its contents spilling out. April and Leo managed to leap to the other side, falling just in front of the next flight of stairs as Gus rammed into the railing.

You stared up at him with dismay as he slowly pulled himself up and turned his back towards you, facing April and Leo.

For a brief second he looked almost like—

Suddenly, the spikes trailing down his back and off his shoulders sharpened as he readied his attack, a growl leaving his throat.

“Oh, you dudes are in for it now!”

You heard someone groan beside you, making you turn back to the pile of sheets to find Donnie sprawled out across them, as he slowly pushed himself up. You scrambled to your feet and rushed over, offering a hand out to him and pulling the turtle off the ground. 

“Are you alri—” you were interrupted by a loud shriek that echoed through the stairwell. 

You both jerked your heads to see the Yokai grab April by her leg and dangle her in the air. A nostalgic throb shot through your ankle as you looked upon the beast with panic, your heart racing in your ears. 

“Here, help me pull this up!” Donnie hissed to you, snapping you out of your trance as he began to try and set the hamper back on its wheels. You paused for a moment before following his moves. 

“Now what?” You asked, as he lightly pushed you aside so he could grab onto the hamper’s handlebar again.

Instead of answering you, he gave the cart a hard push and let it ram right into Gus’s back, causing him to lose his footing and fall backwards—right into the hamper. As he dropped April to the ground, the cart continued to roll, falling down a flight of stairs. 

Leo was quick to check on April while Donnie rushed after Gus to make sure he was really down for the count, leaving you to follow after when you suddenly felt something under your shoe. 

You stepped back, looking down at the small ring of keys at your feet. You reached down, flipping through the different keys to find a small, metal key chain that had an engraved ‘#1 good boy’ on it. 

You glanced back up just in time to see Gus rise to his feet and lung back up the stairs at Donnie, knocking him back and trapping him on the staircase. You all watched in shocked horror as Donnie tried hard to fight out from under him. You took a cowardice step back, your nails digging into the palms of your hands when you were reminded of the cool metal in your grasp. You flashed your eyes down at your hand, before you quickly shot your arm into the air and began to jingle the keys.

“Here boy! Here! You want the keys??” You pitched your voice, watching as Gus set his attention on you with wide eyes that reminded you too much of a puppy. His ears folded back as he bounced off of Donnie, eyeing the keys in your hand like a hawk as he let out a loud ruff in confirmation.

“C’mon, Gus! Come get the keys! Here, Gus!” You continued on, as the Yokai scrambled to his paws and began jetting back up the stairs. You flinched back as he stopped just in front of you, eyes still trained on the keys.

You took a breath.

“You want the keys, boy? You want the keys?” He nodded. You reeled your arm back. “Then go get them!” You screeched, throwing your arm forward towards the railing and watching as Gus leaped over the rails and down the center of the spiraling stairway.

You all glanced at one another and peered over the edge, as Gus continued the search for his keys. You failed to fight back a grin when you held your hand over the rail and jingled the small key ring still in your grasp.

“Not cool, broooooooooosssssssss…!!” He hollered as you all watched him plummet down the stairwell. You wanted to wait until you heard a satisfying thud that signified he’d reach the bottom, but you felt the disturbed from the three surprised stares that were getting sent your way.

You met the others’ eyes. 

“What?” You asked, going over towards the tossed aside sheets and bedding, and finding your aunt’s old cloak. “I used to pull that on my old Jack Russell when I was younger,” you offered, throwing the cloak back over your shoulders. 

“Well, good thinking,” April nodded, turning back towards the others, “That should give us some time to get to Big Mama’s office. Let’s book it!”

Nodding in agreement, you all raced up the staircase.

“Where are Raph and Mikey? I thought you guys were together!” Donnie gasped out as he ran.

“Well!” April huffed, “We were, but then someone got caught and we had to split up!” She quickly threw a glare over at Leo.

“Hey!”

You wheezed out a laugh. “Heh—same here,” you grinned, shooting a look back at Donnie.

“To be fair, you were the one that ran into them.”

“Yeah, but you were the one they recognized,” you retorted.

“I knew we should’ve gotten disguises as well! I would’ve killed the masquerade look!” Leo whined as you passed the thirteenth level.

“Oh my god— I am going to pass out if we have to run up any more of these!” April cried, her voice echoed through the stairwell. “I am starting to regret wearing heels.”

“I’m starting to regret coming along!” You groaned, passing floor fifteen.

“Oh, c’mon! You love hanging out with us!” Leo snickered, taking multiple steps at a time with ease (how the fuck was he even doing that—).

“Oh yeah, I just love getting banned from every place I know and stealing from crazy spider women!! Love it!” You hissed back sarcastically, as you reached the top of the staircase, leading up to the sixteenth floor. “Damn, I guess they really don’t want folks to get anywhere near her office.”

“Can you blame her? She’s most likely got tons of rich shit in her vault. She probably wants everyone as far from it as possible,” Leo struggled, opening up the door leading into another long hallway. “Jesus, all these floors look the same.”

“You have been to a hotel before, correct Nardo? Generally all the rooms do tend to match,” Donnie commented as you all pressed forward.

“Just sayin’! Wouldn’t hurt to add some variety.”

You continued down the hall, careful to keep your voices low as you snuck around corners. Donnie continued to type away at his tablet, until suddenly he paused.

“What’s up, Dee?” April asked, as you all came to a stop in front of him.

“That’s.. odd..” he murmured, making you all glance at each other. “It says there’s an elevator just up here but.. I don’t see one.”

You peered up ahead of the hall, spotting only more fancy wallpaper and hotel rooms. “Are you sure your scanner thing isn’t just busted?”

“I’m sure. Here, look—” Donnie pressed something on his tablet, emitting a neon blue, 3D hologram into the air, showing a detailed model of the building, including little red dots to signify what you assumed were other heat signatures. 

You stared at the four red dots on the projection that were close together and immediately guessed who those represented. Your gaze moved down the hall of the hologram, noticing a part of the wall missing and replaced with what you assumed was the elevator Donnie was talking about.

“This says it’s..” you wandered down the hallway, moving to that part of the wall, “That it’s right here.. but—what..??” You grumbled, glaring at the large painting hung over the wall that clearly shouldn’t have been there according to Donnie’s device.

“That’s so weird..” April hummed, standing at your side. “You think it’s like a fake wall or something?” 

“Possibly,” Donnie agreed, “Everyone, search the wall—see if you can find a trigger to open it.”

You decided to stick near the painting, running your fingers along the dusty frame as you examined the picture before you. It was a very elegant oil painting of none other than Big Mama (thankfully in her human disguise), with a high head and a proud smile. 

A shiver still managed to work its way up your spine as you carefully felt the textured painting, admiring the small details etched into the piece. Your eyes caught on the shiny, red pendant that sat just below her neck, making you reach up and touch it.

You were surprised to feel a small dip in the painting, like a hole had been punctured then, but it was completely blind to the human (and Yokai) eye. You shoved your hands back into the pockets of the worker’s uniform you were wearing as you pondered over this, when you felt pieces of cool metal graze against your fingers. You pulled out the object, nearly forgetting you still had Gus’s keys.

You looked over the different keys and keychains, your attention locking onto a long, slim piece of metal that resembled a dog whistle. You held the whistle in your hand and glanced back to the pendent, then back to the whistle.

“Maybe…” you muttered to yourself, using your free hand to feel for the hole again before holding the whistle back up to it. You took a breath and pushed the whistle into the painting, watching in awe as a glowing, purple aria surrounded the area you stuck the whistle in, before it immediately expanded over the wall to reveal a pair of golden elevator doors. 

“Whoa!” You gasped, stepping back  and dropping the keys in shock, nearly tumbling to the ground if it weren’t for Leo—who was conveniently close by. 

“Sweet! Good work, (l/n)!” Leo grinned, standing you up straight and ruffling your hair before stepping in front of you to examine the elevator. As if summoned by his presence, the doors slowly pulled open, revealing a similar looking elevator to the one before.

With a confident step, Leo strutted inside as April walked past you, nudging your arm as she threw a big smile your way before joining him. After a moment, Donnie walked up beside you with a look of disbelief clear of his face.

“How did you—how did you know that would work?”

“Uhm.. I didn’t,” you shrugged, “Just dumb luck, I guess.”

Donnie gave you a quick side eye and a mocking smirk quirked at the corner of his mouth. “Emphasis on ‘dumb’,” he snickered, walking past you into the elevator as you gave an offended scoff.

“Wha—hey!” You fumbled after him, letting the gold doors close behind you as you glared up at him. “It’s not my fault Mr. 300 IQ here couldn’t figure it out before me.” You took a moment to glance around. “So now what?”

“Now we go up, I guess,” April shrugged, reaching towards the button panel and pressing one of the only two options available—one for the floor you were currently on, and one for wherever you were going (hopefully, fingers crossed, it was Big Mama’s office).

The lift jolted to a sudden start, making you jump back a bit as soft elevator music began to play. You glanced around, beginning to grow bored rather quickly. 

“This elevator sure does take a while..” Leo groaned, crossing his arms over his chest, as everyone mumbled an agreement before settling back into an awkward silence.

You heard Donnie huff from beside you, as he continued to mess with his tablet again. You subtly glanced back at him for a moment, before shortly turning back towards the front, idly drumming your hand against your pants leg anxiously.

Then the lift came to a sharp halt and the music stopped. 

Dread instantly replaced the bubbling emotion in your chest. 

You swallowed hard as you stared at the large golden doors that ever so slowly began to pull apart.

The room was bigger than you thought it’d be—it was certainly no comparison to the ginormous ballroom downstairs but it was an admirable size nonetheless. The walls were covered with oil paintings and photographs, medals and awards, plaques and accomplishments. There were small desks and tables with mementos sitting atop them at full display, and with little free room there was—a large, mahogany desk setting at the opposite set of the room, led too by a color carpet. 

You took a sharp inhale as you wandered in first, stepping along the carpet as you glanced back at the others for reassurance. Leo nodded back at you, bringing a single finger to his lips before sharing a look with everyone. You traversed further in.

You took another quick look around, failing to find any sort of vault or safe. You glared back at the others once more, finding your own anxieties to be heightened. 

“Guys, I don’t see the—”

“RAZZAMATAZZ!”

“WhoAA MY GOD!”

“Mikey, wait—”

Before you knew it, a shadowed figure leaped down from the ceiling and knocked you to the ground, restraining you as you yelped out a startled cry.

Lifting your face up from the elegant carpet, you felt the floor shake beneath you and found a large figure now looming in front of you. You winced away when the figure raised its arm, making your duck your head away and squeezing your eyes shut.

You should’ve known. You should’ve known this plan wouldn’t work. You should’ve known you would’ve been found out by Ms. What’s Her Face. You should’ve known she was a goddamn spider—

“Mikey, get off them! It’s just the guys!” 

Suddenly, the weight on your back at the restraint around your arms vanished, making you look back up again to find the familiar figure that belonged to none other than Raph, with a battle crazed Mikey in his grasp.

“Wha—how..” you pushed yourself up, scrambling away, “You’re here!”

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Raph grinned, still holding a firm grip on his brother, “We thought you were one of Big Mama’s goons.”

Mikey shook his head, shaking himself out of his crazed attack as he snapped his eyes back at you. 

“Y/n!” He exclaimed, jumping from Raph’s arms with ease and leaping in front of you. “Sorry!! You okay?” He asked, reaching a hand out to you. You hesitated before taking his hand and letting him pull you up. 

“No harm done, just glad to see you both are alright,” you hummed, dusting off your worker’s uniform. “What happened to you guys? How’d you find your way here?”

“Well, let’s just say Big Mama’s bellhops haven’t exactly gotten any smarter since we’ve last been here,” Raph chuckled, before looking past you and over the others. “We had only just got here when the elevator started to open again. We thought maybe Big Mama had sent more guards up to protect her vault and tried to hide. But Mikey here thought it’d be a smart idea to jump down and attack—luckily it was just you guys.”

“Yeah,” you rubbed your arm, sore from being restrained, “Luckily.”

Humored looks washed across everyone’s faces, before Leo crapped his hands together loudly.

“Alright! Let’s open that vault, brag those webs, and get the hell out of here!” He cheered, striding towards a particular painting on the wall—an illustration of an older looking man with a long beard, large eyes, and a tall top hat. “Let’s hope the bellhops aren’t the only things that haven’t changed over the years.”

You glanced at Donnie with a raised brow, but he only gestured you forward as you all crowd around Leo. Carefully, the turtle poked his fingers into the painted man’s eyeballs and within moments you saw a familiar swirling purple vortex from before overtake the painting and spread over the walls. You stepped back in stock, emitting a slight gasp as you stared at the large golden vault door that had been revealed. 

Leo let out a cackling laugh. “Haha! Yeeesssss! This is literally too easy,” he gloated, leaning towards the long combination lock that protected the vault and its valuables. “Just gotta put in the code annnnddddd—” He slid each number on the lock to a matching ‘1’, giving you all a cocky expression, “Voila! Vault opened.”

You all looked at the unmoving safe before slowly turning back to Leo.

“Uuh.. you sure ‘bout that?” Raph questioned, making his brother do a double take.

“Wah—ahhh c’mon! That should’ve worked!” He whined, “Out of all the things she changed—ugh, whatever! Donnie, get your tech-bo! Looks like we’re cutting the bitch open!” He said, cracking his knuckles. 

Donnie immediately complied and readied his bo staff, startling you when the end turned into a chainsaw—when suddenly the room was filled with humorous laughter.

“Oh, I’m afraid that’s not going to work, my little turtle-boos!”

Your stomach twisted horrendously, as your heart dropped to the floor. The large swivel chair that sat behind the beautifully mahogany desk and faced out towards the large glass window spun around, making you all come face to face with the one Yokai you didn’t want to meet.

You all froze in place, as Big Mama rose from her chair. 

“I must say, you’ve all caused quite the whizzlewonk!” She admitted, tilting her head to the side, “but I’m very pleased that you’ve managed to get here without making too much more of a mess.” Slowly, she pulled her gaze towards you and April, the grin on her face widening in a way that made you want to throw up. “Ooh, and what do we have here? A couple of huma-noodles in our midst. I must say, the next time you try to sneak into Big Mama’s Yokai hotel, do try and find better Yokai disguises. Masks and hoods will simply not do—and that should really go for all of you. Did you all really think you could just walk in here without Big Mama noticing?”

You all stiffened again, fear trickling down your backs as you stared back at her with horrified expressions.

“You knew we were here?” Donnie asked, looking incredibly disturbed.

“Oh, you think Big Mama doesn’t know when her hotel is being infiltrated?” She laughed again, “Never underestimate Big Mama, purple one. I thought you four knew that by now! But yes, I knew—but like I’ve always said, I prefer a low profile, don’t need to cause a finklewizz if you can help it. I thought I told my bellhops that, but I’m sure you’ve seen how unreliable they can be.”

You all stood in terrified silence, before Raph stepped up.

“Look Big Mama, we ain’t lookin’ for a fight—we just need some of your webs so we can take care of this problem of ours,” he huffed, “So just give us the goo, and we’ll get out of your hair and let you get back to your party.”

Big Mama stared down at him with unreadable eyes, before the airy laughter from earlier returned.

“Oh, no need for all the trissletaft! You said you needed my webs, yes? What for, may I ask?” She hummed, bringing a pondering finger to her chin.

“—That’s classified” Donnie jumped in, glaring up at the spider Yokai. “Like my brother said, just give us the webs and we’ll go. We’d hate to wreck your hotel a second time, but we’ll do it if we have to,” he threatened, holding a tight grip on his tech-bo.

Big Mama blinked, a smile still on her face. “Oh, such rumbleroo you have there! But I don’t think there’ll be any need for that,” she said, holding up her hand to stop him, “You needn’t tell me, I think I have a small idea of the situation from what Draxy told me.”

“What Drax—he told you?” Donnie hissed, his shoulders tensing up.

“Oh yes—well, only something about these new mutants that’s causing you quite the fuzzlerump. I didn’t quite believe him when he mentioned these the return of his Oozquitoes, but recently my bellhops have been reporting strange sightings.. He too asked me for my webs, but given our long history—Big Mama wasn’t feeling too generous,” She stepped around her desk, “But after seeing them for myself, I have to say I’m not much of a fan of these new bug-a-boos flying about.”

“You’re not?” Mikey piped up, earning a pointed look from Donnie, “But I thought you wanted the Oozquitoes? To use them for make mutants for your Battle Nexus!”

“If it were the same bugs as before.. Well, that would still ring true, but from my knowledge, there’s something—something different about these ones, as I’m sure you’re aware of. Something that turns humans into uncontrollably bloodthirsty animal—as exhilarating as that sounds to have for my Nexus, I simply can’t afford to have something like that in my hotel that can’t be controlled,” she explained with a wave of her hand. “Which is why I’m offering you my webs.”

“Wait, you’re just handing them over?” Leo glared over at her, “Yeah, okay, sure—you think we haven’t learned by now that there’s always some sort of catch with you and your deals?”

“Oh, I do see where your dubious accusations are coming from, but I assure you, I want these bugs gone just as much as you do. You see, it’s not the Oozquitoes I’ve much concerned about, but the mutants. Ever since they’ve started popping up again, they’ve been hunting the area around my hotel, attacking innocent Yokai whenever they can—and as I’m sure you can imagine, that isn’t exactly splendiforous for business. I’m losing guests, which means I’m losing money. And Big Mama does not like losing money.” Big Mama’s gaze hardened for a brief moment before she smiled again. “But if giving you my webs helps catch the Oozquitoes and stop these new disgusting mutants from hurting my business, then I'll be more than willing to supply you with as many webs as you need.”

“So you want us to catch them all again? Like the time when you tricked us into giving you all of them so you can make hundreds of mutants for your Battle Nexus?” He sneered, “Yeah, okay— look, time and time again shows that we can’t trust you—why should we believe a word you say? How can we be sure this isn’t another trick?”

“Because this time I don’t want you to bring me the bugs,” Big Mama hummed, “I want you to get rid of them. I don’t care what you do with them, burn them, squish them, whatever—just keep them and those mutants away from my hotel, and my needs will be satisfied.”

She then studied you all with careful eyes.

“So, do we have a deal?” She asked with a sickenly sweet smile, stretching out her hand for one of you to take.

You glanced at one another, silently debating what exactly you should do. 

After a moment, Donnie stepped forward.

“Fine, you’ll give us some of your webs, and we’ll look out for your hotel—deal?”

Big Mama grinned back at him, taking his hand.

“Deal.”

Like earlier that night on stage, a twirling blue light overtook the woman and soon a giant, smiling spider stood in her place. You felt your soul leave your body as you stared up with mild horror. 

With her claw-like hands, she softly clapped them together. “Now, let’s get you some of those webs you were after, yes? Do any of you happen to have a bucket?”

You fought back a gag.

Why did she have to be a goddamn spider.

Chapter Text

You looked at yourself in the mirror, taking note of the tired expression staring back at you. Even after sleeping in for basically the whole fucking day, you were still somehow exhausted from yesterday’s escapade. You rubbed under your eyes, hoping that maybe it would magically make your heavy, purple bags disappear—only to instead make things look more red and irritated than anything else.

Oh well.

You reached for the Windex you had set aside on the sink counter and began to spray down the bathroom mirrors. 

That was probably the thing that sucked the most now that Jeffery had quit the skating rink—he was no longer here to take care of bathroom duty. 

But in all honesty—as introverted as you could be, you were beginning to truly miss his company at the end of the night. Plus, you were getting real sick and tired of hearing the same five radio songs play on repeat every night. (No, seriously. If your boss didn’t do something about that soon, you were going to quit.)

You let out a heavy sigh as you grabbed the dirty cleaning rag and began to wipe off the mirrors.

As you said, oh well.

“(Y/n)! You about done yet?!” 

Ah, well at least you weren’t completely alone at closing time. 

If there was one saving grace at the rink, it was April. She made working there tolerable (even if she did force you into bathroom duty). You remember how excited you were to work at the rink this summer and how much convincing you had to do for your aunt to let you take on the night shift—but after a week you realized why no one had taken the job until then. The pay was shit and the coworkers were also shit and the boss was just a big piece of horse shit in khakis and a mustard stained button up. Basically the job was complete shit (go figure). 

You supposed the only other bonus for working at the skating rink was that you could practice on the floor during slow hours—but that hardly happened when you were on the clock. You couldn’t even remember the last time you put on your own pair of skates. 

“Yeah! Just a sec!” You eventually called back, finishing off the last bathroom mirror before trudging back out into the main area.

April stood just outside, with her bag tossed over her shoulder and the rink’s keys spinning around her finger. Like usual, she had a big, giddy smile on her face.

“Jesus, how can you be so energetic after yesterday? I feel like I’m about to pass out,” you groaned, as April kindly handed over your backpack that she had oh-so-graciously grabbed for you. 

“Painkillers,” was her answer. You facepalmed.

“Why didn’t I think of that,” you continued to gripe, as you walked side by side out the skating rink. 

“Don’t worry, next time I’ll remind you,” she teased with a Cheshire grin, though the genuine flash in her eye made your heart squeeze a tad bit as she locked up the doors.

You managed a tired smile her way before you looked back down the sidewalk, a frown quickly replacing it.

Next time—oh yeah, right. These guys probably did this stuff all the time, being New York’s heroes and all that. And now with you're in the picture, you’d probably be dragged along too. With school just over the horizon, you were already guessing how this would turn into a big problem. 

“Don’t bother if spiders are involved again. I’ve had enough of those, thank you very much,” you spat, shuttering at the thought.

“Pfft—so dramatic,” April rolled her eyes as you rounded the corner into a nearby alleyway. She squatted down beside the manhole and pulled away the cover, “I think you’re hanging around Donnie too much. You’re beginning to sound like him.”

“You take that back,” you let out an offended scoff, crawling through the hole and scaling down the ladder. “Just wait, soon I’ll be able to recite all the digits of pi!”

“Uuugh, please don’t,” April begged as you both climbed into the sewer. “Forget Leo, I think we found Donnie’s real twin.”

You hopped down onto the concrete, rolling your eyes at April as she made her way down the last few steps. 

“Yeah, yeah—whatever. I don’t hang around the dude that much.”

“Mh-hmm, whatever you say,” April huffed sarcastically, before stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets. 

“It’s true!”

“Is it?? Or is (y/n) (l/n) unknowingly making a new best friend??”

You wheezed out a laugh. “We are not best friends! I doubt he even considers me as his friend. Probably a nuisance is more like it,” you snickered.

“Pfft—okay,” April shook her head, “Live in denial all you want (l/n), but whether you like it or not, these guys aren’t leaving your life anytime soon.”

You let out a sigh. “Don’t I know it.”

It wasn’t long after that until you arrived to what was slowly becoming your third most frequented location (second being the skating rink and first being, of course, your bedroom) this summer. You’d only been down here a handful of times, mainly for video game sessions—not unlike this visit—and movie marathons, and you found yourself growing more and more enthralled each time you were invited back.

April was right, these turtles were slowly becoming an ever growing constant in your life—and you kinda hated it. You hated how quickly you had let them slip through your walls and had let yourself get attached. You’d known them for.. what? A couple of weeks? (excluding April of course and, you supposed, Donnie)—and you had already established a place for yourself in the group. 

Though, despite how nice everyone had been (minus Donnie maybe, but now you’ve learned that that was simply his nature), you still felt like the odd man out. You were still inexperienced with this whole mutant business, and it was tiring trying to act like it was all fine.

Because—even though you were trying your hardest to think otherwise—everything was not really all that fine.

You both wandered into the projection room, finding Leo, Mikey, and Raph crowding around the screen, with a Wii U connected to the projector as they battled it out in Mario Kart.

“Hey boys! Ready to get your asses handed to you?” April teased, plopping down on the beanbag next to Mikey while you took an empty spot on the floor by Leo.

“Pfft—as if! Raph here, does not simply ‘lose’ at Rainbow Road,” Raph gloated right before his character (who was the excellent choice of Princess Peach) was slammed by a blue shell and placed into second by Toad. Leo shrilled a laugh as Raph stared dumbfoundead at the screen, while Toad crossed the finish line and finished off his last lap.

“What were you saying, Raph?” Leo grinned, leaning close into his brother’s personal space, earning a pointed glare and light shove, making Leo nearly crash into you. He lets out a scoff. 

“How could you?! You nearly knocked me into poor, innocent (y/n)! You should be ashamed! They could’ve been hurt,” he gasped with mock concern and distraught. 

“Oh can it,” Raph rolled his eyes, “Here (y/n), you can use this controller,” he spoke to you, easily reaching his arm over Leo’s head to give you the share controller. You smile graciously up at him and take it.

“Thanks, Raph,” you nodded towards him, “Is Donnie not joining us?” 

You failed to catch the odd look April sent your way. 

“Nah,” he said, “He’s been crammed up in his lab ever since we got back last night. Think he’s still working on the Bug Slapper or something,” he shrugged, just as a Dry Bones crosses the finish line in twelfth place while a small cheer emits from Mikey. You all turned to grin at him, as April reached over to give him a playful noogie before you left the replay screen and returned to the main menu to add your and April’s characters.

April settled on Yoshi (a classic and respectable choice), while you instantly went for Waluigi (for reasons that should be obvious). You earned a knowing smile from Leo that you could only help but return. 

The first track you played was Coconut Mall, where a shoving match took place between Raph and Leo as they battled for first place, only to be stolen in a sweeping victory by April. You placed a respectable sixth place, while Mikey managed to snag tenth before the other two bots could beat him to it.

Round two took place in Shy Guy Beach, and things were not looking good for Leo. April and Raph began to team against him, saving all power up items to use solely on him and him alone. A long and loud story short, Leo placed eleventh, Mikey placed eighth, you somehow climbed to fourth place in the end, with April in second and Raph in first (of course).

The third track was when things really kicked into high gear. Let’s just say lines were drawn and alliances were made. You and Leo had decidedly teamed up to best the (in Leo’s words) ‘tyrannical’ Raph and April (he was extremely butthurt that he placed lower than Mikey and decided that that was enough to declare war), while poor Mikey was fighting for his life to not place last. Throughout the game, Leo began giving you tips and tricks to get through Wario’s Gold Mine while you both simultaneously made several attempts to sabotage the others (you had tried sparing Mikey when you could but for Leo it was a free for all). But whatever it was you and Leo were doing, it was working—because somehow you managed to place a good third while Leo swiftly stole first from April.

The fourth round—the fourth round.

The fourth round was pure, uncontrollable chaos. A screaming match broke out between you and Leo (how that happened—despite the two of you being in an alliance—you did not know).

“(Y/N). YOU JUST USED YOUR BANANA PEEL ON ME.”

“WELL, SORRY. I WAS KINDA TRYING NOT TO GET HIT BY YOUR GREEN SHELL.”

“MAYBE GET GOOD AT THE GAME AND THEN MAYBE YOU WOULDN’T HAVE SO MUCH TROUBLE.”

“SAY THAT AGAIN, BIIIIITCH.”

Yeah. That was basically the whole game for you two.

Meanwhile, April decided to betray Raph (who was insisting it was ‘his turn’ to win between the both of them—which April was not happy to hear) and team up with Mikey, somehow carrying him up the placement while you and Leo continued to squabble along. 

And then Mikey double crossed April and stole first place right out from under her.

Plot twist!

This earned an angered reaction from Leo, making him throw his arms up in disbelief. 

“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. WE LOST TO MIKEY—”

“OOOOWWWW.”

While waving his hands in the air as he raged, his controller happened to collide with something.

That something being your face.

“OH MY GOD.” Someone gasped, you think Leo but your nose was in so much excruciating pain that you couldn’t tell.

“(Y/N)?! You good?!?” April had asked from across the room.

“NO.”

“(Y/N), I AM SO SORRY,” Leo quickly apologized.

You felt something drip on your upper lip.

 “OH MY GOD, YOU’RE BLEEDING,” he shrieked.

You reached up, looking back down at your hand to see the tips of your finger coated in a red liquid.

“Welp. That’s fun.”

What the fuck…? ‘That’s fun’, (Y/n), what the fuck is wrong with you. “Hey, now we’re even,” you snickered, pointing at your still bleeding nose (that had now accidentally dripped onto your jeans. That’ll be fun explaining to your aunt when she finds them in your laundry bin).

Leo stared at you dumbfoundedly. Because—yeah. You get smacked in the face with a Wii remote (which to those unaware, hurts A LOT) and the first thing you say is that. 

“Oh god, I concussed them,” Leo mumbled with a mortified expression. 

“Nope, no, not concussed—ow,” you winced as you carefully held your nose, “Well, maybe. Are there supposed to be two of you, Leo?” You asked with a daze.

“Oh my god.”

You chortled a laugh. “I’m teasing. Uhm.. you guys don’t happen to have some ice packs around here somewhere, do you?” You asked, trying desperately to keep your blood from dripping onto the floor (even more than it already has). 

“There should be something in the kitchen, I can go get it, if you want?” Leo offered, beginning to pull himself up before you stop him.

“Nah, I think I got it. I was gonna grab something to drink after this round anyway. Anyone want anything?” You asked around, rising from your spot on the floor. 

April raised her hand into the air. “I’ll take a water—”

“Pepsi for me!” Leo interrupted.

“So I heard water, anybody else?”

“Uhm, hello—yes, me. Pepsi? Please?”

“I’ll take a Spirit,” Raph said.

“Got it. Mikey? What about you?”

“HELLO. PEPSI. NOW.”

“Mmmmmm!” Mikey pondered for a moment, “Nope! I think I’m good!”

“GUYS—”

“Alright! I’ll be back in a second, feel free to start the next round without me.”

“(Y/N), I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL KICK YOUR ASS.”

As you walked out of the projection room, you tossed Leo a look over your shoulder before you rounded the corner and made your way to the kitchen. 

The first thing you did was grab a handful of paper towels and clean up the bloody mess that was your face. After plugging up your nostrils to cease further bleeding, you trudged over to the fridge and pulled it open, quickly retrieving the requested water, Spirit, and (stutter) Pepsi. The aching in your nose only continued to throb, so instead of searching for an ice pack, you instead resorted to using Leo’s Pepsi instead. It seemed only fair.

You turned back to return to the projection room, only to jump at the sight of a passing figure just outside the kitchen.

“Oh!” you let out, “Uhm, hey Donnie.”

Donnie paused, stopping to look back at you. “Oh, hello. I didn’t realize you were here” He paused, his snout scrunching up, “What.. happen to your nose?”

You flinch at the sudden reminder of the small wads of paper towel up your nose.

“Leo whacked me with his Wii remote,” you answered bluntly, like that had been obvious. Then you remembered what Raph told you. Had he really been crammed up in his lab all day? “Speaking of, you coming to join us for some Mario Kart? I think they already started another round, but you can use my controller if you want.”

Donnie stared at you for a moment, before he swiftly shook his head and held up his hand in decline of your offer.

“No—thank you, but I have other matters to attend to.”

“Oh really? Like what,” you asked with a smile, taking out the pieces of paper towel up your nose and disposing them into the trash.

Donnie let out an irritated huff. “Well, while you’re all goofing off, I am currently busy with rebuilding the Bug Slapper. Not that you probably care, but lots of the parts have been either lost or too damaged beyond repair, so I have to go out and grab some spare scraps.” He snapped his head towards the direction of the projection room and the faint screaming from inside. “ALL BY MYSELF, MAY I ADD.”

You held an amused smile as Donnie rubbed the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his eyes, as his gaze flicked back to you.

“Say, you aren’t doing anything incredibly productive right now, are you?”

“Uhm… no? I guess not,” you shrugged.

“Great. Then you can assist me with gathering more scrap parts,” Donnie clasped his hands together as if he’d already settled on this idea. 

You stared at Donnie like he had grown a second head—because no, you were not going to become his assistant. You were going to go play Mario Kart with your friends and most likely (most definitely) get your ass handed to you. (Mario Kart wasn’t really your thing, if you hadn’t noticed—you were more of a Smash Bros. kind of person).

“Uhhhhh, no I'm not,” you hissed, “What on Earth makes you think I’d rather go dumpster diving with you instead of doing—like, literally anything else.”

“Well, it’s not like I want the help, but with all the parts I need, I’ll need some assistance bringing them all back. And currently everyone is occupied right now, sooooo—”

“Ugh. FINE.” You caved. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad—you had your headphones in your backpack, so you could at least jam out while you collected Donnie’s needed junk. “But this better not take too long,” You huffed, grabbing the guys' drinks. “Just let me take these to the others and grab my stuff, and then we can go.”

Donnie gave a curt nod. “Very well.”

You walked back into the projection room, holding up everyone’s refreshments—while Donnie hung back by the doorway.

“I have returned!” you exclaimed, going to Leo and Raph to give them each their Pepsi and Sprite respectively. 

“(Y/n), join back in! You’re missing me kick April’s ass!” Leo snickered, roughly nudging Raph as his character ran into an item box. 

“Would love to, but I’m currently being forced against my will to help Donnie with some nerd thing,” you rolled your eyes, handing April her water. 

“Don’t hang around him that much, you say?” April muttered under her breath to you with a teasing grin, making your ears burn with a sudden aggravation. 

“Oh, shut it,” you gruffed, waving her off before you walked back over to Donnie. “Be back in a bit.”

Everyone gave you half minded replies, save for April who continued to watch you leave with a knowing smile. You choose to ignore it.

“So where exactly are we going?” you asked as Donnie led you through the lair.

“I know a guy who lets me use some of the junk from his repo lot. Normally he’s not a fan of people going through his stuff, but we did a small favor for him a few years back, and now as long as it’s stuff he can’t sell for a lot of profit, he lets me take whatever I need.”

“Repo lot? You mean that old abandoned junkyard across town?” You asked, “Dude, I’m not walking that. Hopefully the subway’s empty enough so we don’t have to worry about—this whole situation.” you said, gesturing idly to Donnie.

Donnie let out a scoffing laugh. “Oh, we won’t be taking the subway. C’mon, let’s go to the garage.”

“You have a garage?!”

You stared in awe at the large tank of a vehicle in front of you. It looked like something straight out of a Sci-fi movie. 

The ‘garage’ (which was really just an 

“We’re taking that?” You asked, walking up to one of the massive fires that towered over your head.

“Mmm.. No, I don’t think I’ll be needing that many parts. We’ll just take one of the Shell Hogs.”

Before you could even begin to ask what the fuck a Shell Hog was, two wheels on the side of the car(?) detached, revealing a hidden motorcycle.

“Holy shit,” you breathed, taking a step closer to admire in awe, when a small storage box popped out just behind the seat, startling you.  “Dude, did you, like— make this?”

“Uhm—yes?? I thought we already clarified that that’s kinda my thing?”

“Okay jeez asshat. I was just gonna say that this shit is fire, but just because of that, I’m just gonna call you a nerd.” You paused, looking up at him. “You’re a big ass nerd, dipshit.”

Donnie glared back down at you, before clicking his tongue and rolling his eyes. “Mature.”

“Thank you,” you said, adjusting your bag as Donnie climbed onto the Shell Hog. “I try.”

“Whatever, just get on,” Donnie grunted.

“Well someone’s in a bad mood tonight..” you grumbled, climbing on behind him and holding onto the back of the seat. “Alright, let’s get this over wi—WOAH—”

In an instant, the Shell Hog kicked to life as Donnie raced out of the garage.

“HOLY SHIT,” you squawked, quickly taking your hold off the seat and gripping onto the back of Donnie’s battle shell, clutching on for dear life as you left the abandoned subway that was the lair and escaped out onto the New York streets. “HOLY FUCKING SHITBALLS.”

“Will you quit screaming in my ear?! I swear I’m going to go deaf because of you!” Donnie hollered over the raging wind.

“Well maybe give a dude a warning before you start driving at a hundred miles per hour!” you shouted back, ducking your head behind his back to stop the high speed air smacking your face. “Next time, I vote we take the subway!”

“Oh, it’s not that bad–ACK–” you could faintly hear the sound of Donnie choking.

“What happened?!” you called over the wind.

“Ugh—” he coughed, “I swallowed a bug.”

You snickered. “Subway next time?”

“Subway next time,” he relented.

It wasn’t before long when you finally reached the repo lot, the moon hovering brightly in the dark sky. Donnie rode in through the fenced gate and pulled the Shell Hog to a stop, putting down the kickstand as you began to crawl off. 

Stepping onto the dirt ground, you looked around in awe at the piles upon piles of busted cars and machines and other miscellaneous junk. You walked over to the large sign next to the entrance, noticing the added ‘tis’ next to ‘repo man’. You quirked an eyebrow up at it, before continuing your quick look-around of the place.

“You are way too easy to impress,” Donnie commented, climbing off the motorbike and walking over to you. “It’s starting to get boring.”

“I’m not impressed,” you defended, “I’ve just.. never really been here before. Reminds me of the Stacks. Very.. dystopian.”

“The.. Stacks,” Donnie monotonously echoed, sounding equally bored and confused. 

“Yeah, y’know,” you shrugged, “Where Wade Watts lived? From Ready Player One ?”

Donnie stared at you for a moment before he shook his head and let out a chortling laugh. “And you call me a nerd.”

“What? Liking a book doesn’t make me a nerd.”

“No, of course not,” Donnie agreed with a knowing smile, “But having the Orion and Scorpius constellations stuck on your bedroom ceiling does.” You felt your cheeks catch on fire for a brief moment as you flushed in embarrassment. “Plus, that book is literally the definition of nerd. It’s literally about a bunch of nerds trying to solve another nerd’s giant, nerdy puzzle.”

“Okay, stop saying nerd. It doesn’t even sound like a word anymore,” you huffed, slipping off your backpack and digging inside it, managing to retrieve your phone. You set it down on the hood of some wrecked car, before you went back to the bag, searching around through the pockets. You continued to dig through it before you came to the realization. “No, no, noooooo,” you whined, “Don’t tell me I forgot to pack iiiiiit.”

Donnie looked back over at you. “Pack what?”

“My headphones, I was going jam out while we dumpster dived,” you groaned, throwing your head back as you complained. “I work better with my jam-jams.”

“Then just play it from your phone.”

You paused. “Is that.. Okay?” You asked, unsure, as you zipped your bag back up and tossed it back beside the Shell Hog. 

“Sure, I don’t care. Just as long as it’s not any of that trashy radio shit.”

Oh, the irony.

You snorted. “Noted.”

You scrolled through your Spotify, searching through playlists as you tried to decide what to play. Your eyes caught on a familiar band and you couldn’t fight back the smile growing on your face.

Clicking onto one of your favorite songs, you turned up the volume and set your phone on the damaged car’s hood before going over to the pile Donnie stood by. He struggled with pulling off a large strip of metal from an old truck, so you quickly went to his aid and helped him yank it off. Donnie gave you a curt nod in thanks before trudging the strip back over to the Shell Hog and tossing it into the storage box. 

As he walked back, the build up to the song dipped and allowed the intro to loudly hum into the air, guitar strumming and drums banging and chimes ringing as you found yourself nodding along. You picked up a few small scraps and began to carry them over to the container as the first verse kicked in. 

You began to mouth out the lyrics, catching Donnie’s eye as he turned back around with more scrap metal. He raised a brow your way as you held a fake mic in your hand and pointed towards him with the other.

“And it’s sad that you think that we’re all just scenesters–and even if we were, it's not the scene you’re thinking of.” You sang along, doing a small dance and dramatic gestures as Donnie rolled his eyes and walked past you, dumping more junk into the storage bin while you continued. “If there’s one thing I could never confess–It’s that I can’t dance a single step!”

You grinned when Donnie shook his head at you, carrying on with your singing as he watched you goofily dance around like a moron. “I thought you said this was supposed to make you work better?”

“I liiiiiiiied!” you called back while you scooped up a few more iron plates from the bed of some abandoned Toyoda. You carried them back, dancing along as you dumped them by the bike and spotted a dented SUV. 

Childishly dancing over to it, you found that the hood had become detached and decided to attempt to fully pull it off, only to end in no avail. You turned to call for Donnie, only to see him lightly shuffling around as he hauled back a couple of metal pieces, nodding along to the music.

“It’s you!” the song cried out, “It’s me! And there’s dancing!”

You started to snicker, watching him slowly begin to actually dance as you both worked, the moon and its stars holding themselves high above your heads to light your ‘dancefloor’. 

Dumping the metal beside the Shell Hog, he turned to grab more when you managed to catch his eye. You watched as he realized he’d been caught and quickly stopped any movement he had been making.

“Hey, don’t stop now, Dance-atello!” You taunted, making sure to rock along to the chorus in hopes of encouraging him. “Come over here and help me with this hood!”

Reluctantly, he complied and trudged over to the SUV—unfortunately minus any dancing..

“Don’t call me that,” he grunted, grabbing the side of the hood as you both successfully yanked it off. 

“Awww, what? I think that’s a pretty good nickname! Has a nice ring!”

Donnie huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. “No. No, it doesn’t.”

“Fine,” you conceded with the roll of your eyes, as the current song playing finished out and faded into a new one. “Oh, I love this one!” You smiled giddily, as Donnie shook his head once more and grabbed the car hood, dragging it back over to the Shell Hog.

“I watch your face move in a compact mirror; how the powder settles iiiiiiin! You say I circle you unwanted, like a seagull swoops and feeds from biiiiin!” you hummed along, as you carried more mental pieces back towards the collection. Just as Donnie came walking back with a few old car parts, you paused in anticipation for the chorus.

“There are listed buildings!” You sang, drumming the air in time with the beats in the music, “And woe betide your listed heart! I think I’d do it for love if it were not for the money! I’ll take any scraps that you can give!” 

You grinned and nodded long, dancing around Donnie as you moved to a new pile. He continued to watch you, giving a judging—but amused look as you lifted up another piece of junk and carried it back, dumping it into the storage box.

“Comewhat midnight! The neon signs have been unplugged and fade,” you mouthed, pointing once more at Donnie as he raised a brow at you. “You danced a jig down at the harbour, create your own flash show with security lights!”

Realizing what you were asking him to do, he promptly shook his head and turned to get back to it, only for you to stop him.

“Pleeeeeaaaaasssseeeee?? If you do, I swear I’ll help you out with the rest of the Bug Slapper.”

You didn’t really know why you were trying so hard to get him to let loose. Maybe it was because you wanted to get under his skin. Maybe it was because you genuinely thought he was a good dancer. Maybe you were (kinda, sorta, maybe) worried about him closing himself up in his lab all day. 

Just maybe. 

You gave him a wide grin.

 Once more, he rolled his eyes.

“Fine, but only one song. Then we get back to work.”

Successsssssssssss.

You beamed. “You say that a lot,” you joked, walking back over to your phone and tossing it towards him carelessly, amused as you watched him fumble to catch it. “If I only get one song, then you have to pick it.”

He studied you for a moment, as if making sure this wasn’t some trap, before slowly looking back down at your phone, only for his face to scrunch up instantly.

“What? Is it too outdated for your high–tech standards?” you teased with a grin.

Donnie grimenced, as he held it up and faced it towards you. “Your phone screen is horrendous.”

You looked back at it, gazing at the large crack running through the middle. 

“Oh… Yeah. It got busted back when…” You flicked your gaze momentarily to the ground. “When I ran into that mutant.” You bit your cheek, pausing for a second. “It’s fine though, I can get it fixed. Just go ahead and pick a song,” You tried.

Donnie narrowed his gaze at you before he snapped his eyes back onto the phone. “Well, remind me to look at this when we get back to the lair and I’ll see what I can do for it,” he said off–handedly, scrolling through your Spotify to find a song that suited him while you thought over his words.

“Ah, here we go,” he practically grinned, setting your phone back on the Shell Hog’s seat before turning back to you. You took a moment to listen to the song, smiling wide once you recognized it. It was “Sugarhigh.”

“From Empire Records ,” you nodded in approval, “Now who’s the nerd?”

“Still you,” Donnie quickly retorted, grabbing your arm to pull you into another dance, reminding you faintly of last night and Big Mama’s party. 

But this time it was easier to dance to your own rhythm (mainly because there weren’t dozens and dozens of Yokai crowding around you and literally on an undercover mission, but none-the-less), as you were able to match Donnie’s sporadic moves with a  few of your own. 

“Not bad,” Donnie nodded, dancing along as Coyote Shivers continued to sing about making out and watching Saturday Night Live . You grinned over at him, mouthing along to the lyrics once more, adding on goofy gestures as you did.

“I have searched both far and wide,” you mouthed along dramatically, looking expectantly over at Donnie as you held the fake mic out to him. He met your gaze and gave a defeated expression.

“I’ve explored the deepest caverns of my mind,” he mouthed back, before smiling as he grabbed your arm once more and pulled you a bit closer.

“To try and find,” you snickered in his face, “An explanation why—”

“I get this funny feeling deep inside!” He joined you on the ‘microphone’, both of you full on screaming along now as you danced and jumped around like morons. “When you kiss me goooooodbye—and when I lick between your thi—”

“What’s going’s on here?!” A voice bellowed from above, making you freeze instantly and tumble to the ground. Lifting your face up from the ill-tasting dirt, you slowly craned your neck up towards the night sky, narrowing your eyes at the shadowed figure on top of one of the many towering junk piles.

Donnie quickly moved in front of you as you managed to scramble to your feet, glaring back at the figure as he reached for his tech bo—before he quickly relaxed with a bored slump of his shoulders. “Oh, it’s just you.”

You watched as the figure leaped down, landing just a few feet ahead of you both, with the moonlight showered down on them. You jumped back at the sight of a large, purple mantis man that was now in front of you.

“What the—oooooohh,” you interrupted yourself, “Repo mantis… Now I get it,” you nodded to yourself as Donnie facepalmed.

“Ah, it’s just one of you’s turtles,” the mantis mutant groaned, “Thought some dumb teens were’s throwing some kinda’s party in my lot.”

“Nope,” Donnie answered, “Just some dumb teens getting off task. Speaking which, I believe we’ve gotten all that we need—so if it’s alright with you, we’ll be going now.”

“No, please! Stay and continue to make a racket in my repo lot!” The mantis snarked, before narrowing his gaze at you, “And bring all the humans you’s want! Not like I mind!”

You shifted your gaze back to Donnie. “…is he being sarcastic..?” You mumbled.

“Am I being—YES. Yes, I’m being sarcastic! Do you two’s know what hour it is right now?! Some of us are trying to sleep.”

You were about to question why he was sleeping in a repo lot, when you realized that being a mutant probably meant you didn’t have a lot of options on where to live. So, very wisely, you kept your mouth shut.

“Sorry Repo, we’ll get out your hair,” Donnie dully responded, turning back to you and nodding his head towards the Shell Hog. You followed after him.

“If he’s a mantis, then why does he have hair..?” You whispered.

“I heard that!”

“Fuck,” you winced, “Sorry! I meant to say you have very beautiful hair. It’s really giving Elvis Presley! Did you know that he owned more than two hundred vehicles? He often headed up giving or trading them away after six months though—and his noted favorite was the 1973 Stutz Blackhawk—” you paused when you noticed the odd look Repo was giving you. “Uhm—because—y’know, you own a repo lot, so I thought you’d like to—never mind.” You coughed awkwardly into your fist as you averted your gaze onto the ground, suddenly finding great interest in your scuffed up sneakers. 

The mantis mutant slowly turned his gaze back onto Donnie. 

“Are all your’s human friends this chatty, turtle?”

“Nope, just this one,” he spoke, before turning to you like nothing had happened, “C’mon, let’s get going. The others are probably wondering where we are right now,” he said as he led you both back over to the Shell Hog. 

Shamefully, you grabbed your bag and climbed on behind him.

“See ya’, Mantis,” Donnie gave a half-hearted wave, before the Shell Hig rumbled to life once more. Repo didn’t say anything, only crossing his weird, mantis arms as he watched you both drive away.

“Why didn’t you stop meeeeeeee,” you whined, hiding your face behind Donnie’s battle shell.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were going to give a whole spiel about Elvis Presley’s cars,” he snickered, making you feel even more embarrassed, “So, you like Elvis?”

“Uhm, well my aunt is really into him. When you live with someone who’s obsessed with him, it’s really hard not to know everything about him. Especially if you're me.”

“Yeah? How come?” Donnie prompted.

“Well, I dunno,” you shrugged, looking up at the distant stars and passing buildings. “I guess I just like to know stuff. Especially if there’s a lot of history behind something.. like, well—I mean, you saw my room.”

“Yeah, you like astrology because there’s a lot to it?”

“Kinda? I mean, back in middle school I was more into space and shit, then I learned that some of the stars and constellations have stories behind them—and well, that sent me down a whole other rabbit hole,” you bit your lip, “But, I haven’t really been as into it as recently.”

Donnie was silent for a moment. “How come?”

“Uh.. well I guess I just got bored of it,” you fibbed, hoping he couldn’t tell, “And also.. I maaaay have gotten a bit fixated on a bunch of 90s sitcoms this summer,” you quickly mumbled, earning a snort from Donnie.

“Wait really?” He laughed. “What like Seinfeld and Friends ?”

“And Boy Meets World !” You added with a grin. 

“Unbelievable..” Donnie chortled, “You really are a nerd!”

“Uuuuh, says the guy who draws on his own eyebrows so he can look more like his action star hero!” You argued with a smile, “Yeah, don’t think I didn’t notice that!”

“You’re just jealous you can’t ever look this good.”

“Oh yeah. Just envy of your perfect Sharpie eyebrows,” you rolled your eyes, your cheeks hurting from how hard you were smiling. 

You both walked into the projection room, only to be welcomed by loud agreements and indistinguishable screaming. So, it was like anytime you’ve come down to the lair.

Luckily, Leo looked back just in time to notice the both of you. 

“Hey, you’re back! Jeez, what took you guys so long, I’ve been waiting for forever for someone to get me a refill!” He whined, holding up an empty Pepsi can, making you miss the odd look he sent your way.

“Wow, for apparently being one of the city's greatest heroes, you sure are pathetic,” you snickered down at him, before plopping back down to where you had been earlier. “Get it yourself, loser,” you joked, making him grin.

“But you’re so much better at it than I am!” He insisted. “I’ll just screw it up, it’s best if you just did it instead,” he said, his eyes flashing over to somewhere out of your peripheral vision.

“Quit being a tick, Nardo,” Donnie scoffed, making his way across the room and hovering over him, his arms crossed. “If you keep this up, you’ll probably be even lazier than dad.”

You heard Mikey shutter.

“Yeah, don’t be a nuisance, Leo!” Raph laughed from across the room next to April. “We’ll wait for you before we play the next round. Just be quick!”

“Uuuggghhhh, fiiiinnneeee,” Leo mocked a bothered groaned, pulling himself up and slugging towards the kitchen. Before he left however, he flicked a look over his shoulder, a knowing smile clear on his features.

As you pondered what this meant, Donnie let out a huff and slumped down into Leo’s old seat. “So, we’re totally not waiting for him, right?”

“Oh no.”

“Of course not.”

“Why would you even think that?”

You snickered at everyone’s overlapping responses, as Raph started up the game again and let Donnie change his character. (Apparently Donnie mained Birdo, which was so fucking random that you had to respect it.)

And as it’d turn out, he was insanely good at Mario Kart, because not only was he whooping both you and Mikey’s asses, but April and Raph’s as well. It was almost embarrassing for you all.

But luckily, Donnie didn’t have time to relish his victory, because soon an offended gasp sounded throughout the projection room, making you all turn back to see a horrified Leo.

“You backstabbers!!” He cried, clutching a hand over his heart as he slowly turned to his now occupied seat. “YOU! Get over here!” He pointed an accusing finger at Donnie, before dropping his soda and leaping onto his brother, pulling him into a wrestling match on the floor.

You all crowded around them, placing bets on who you think would win. It ended up being a draw, but oddly enough, Leo let Donnie keep his spot next to you.

Chapter Text

If there was one thing you regretted most, it was promising Donnie you’d help with the Bug Slapper.

For the last week of your summer vacation, the guy wasted absolutely no time putting you to work, utilizing your assistance each time you stepped foot into the lair. He was as bossy as he was egotistical, and those two traits did anything but mesh well together. Every evening in Donnie’s lab was an uphill battle of trying not to strangle his stupid, green neck—but you knew that most likely that would be a poor idea if you wanted to stay friends with April and the other. (Maybe. Leo seemed like he wouldn’t mind.)

But still, any ounce of hope you had of Donnie not being a complete asshole went up and out the window as soon as you saw his mad scientist side begin to show. (Dude was fucking terrifying when he was invested in his tech.)

Though, you shouldn’t say it was all bad. It was honestly very cool getting to see all the inner workings of Donnie’s tech. He was clearly very prideful of his inventions, and for good reason. You could barely believe you were the same age, because he was creating things you couldn’t even imagine, much less make in a single lifetime—and somehow he was designing and building these in weeks. By himself. 

If only he didn’t have to hide from society, you could only picture how much his work could revolutionize so many things. 

So yeah, he might be an asshole, but he is a very intelligent asshole—and you weren’t one to not give credit where credit is due. 

The tasks he’d have you do were pretty basic—whether it be making another coffee run for the both of you, or helping him weld old scrap metals together to put on the Bug Slapper. And while usually you weren’t a fan of being bossed around, especially by a guy with the ego as tall as the Empire State Building—you sometimes (some how) found it fun working with all this complicated tech (and Donnie too, you supposed.. maybe..)

While jamming out to a mix of ABBA, Queen, and other iconic music legends, you watched Donnie go over the blueprints in front of him and a small checklist on his wrist tablet. You took a sip of your pitch black coffee (Donnie had once said that one of the first rules of being in his lab was if you were going to drink coffee, you were going to drink it black—and even though he clarified that he was only joking, you took it straight to heart), nodding along to “Stay Up Late” by the Talking Heads.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. had dozed off on the table beside you, his little internal system whirring softly as he ‘slept’. Donnie suddenly fell back into his chair, staring at the ceiling as the gears turned in his head and lightly kicking his foot to spin the chair in one direction, and then the other. 

You decided to bite the bullet. “What’s up, doc?” You chortled, taking another swig of coffee. 

Donnie sent you a bothered glare before he fixed his eyes back on the ceiling once again. “It has occurred to me that we do not have enough resources to finish off the Bug Slapper. We’ll most likely have to head back to the repo lot… Which is a bit bothersome, but we shouldn’t need to grab as much as we did last time, so it won’t be too bad. We can head back over there some time after lunch tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” You echoed, “You think we could rain check that, Dee? I, uh, won’t be able to make it,” You said, swirling the warm, dark in your mug around before taking a sip. 

“Hmm? Oh, yes—well, if you have a shift tomorrow then that is alright. We can simply do it afterwards. I will meet you in the alleyway—”

“No, uhm—actually, I don’t have a shift at the rink, I’m—okay, you guys do know what school is, right?”

Donnie stared at you with a scrunched up expression, his face tense with befuddlement. He then let his face relax as he gave you a dull look. 

“No. I have no clue what this so-called ‘school’ is,” he rolled his eyes.

“Oh, okay—well, it’s sorta this place humans go to to learn—”

“I know what a school is! I was being sarcastic!!”

“Oh.” 

You glanced away awkwardly.

“It’s just that I didn’t know if you did because you’re a turtle and you live in a sewer and—”

“Okay, yes, I realize! You don’t have to explain!” Donnie let out an aggravated huff, before rubbing his eyes with his hand. “Fine then, we will simply reschedule for later,” he said, any real frustration absent from his tone.

“Thanks,” you said, “sorry.”

“No probles. I should’ve known, April mentioned something about going back this week.” He spun around in his chair, “I must’ve forgotten.”

You turned your gaze from Donnie over to S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N., lightly patting the little robot’s head. His systems whirred even louder, sounding almost like a cat’s purr. Adorable. 

You were so captivated by the small, cute drone, you had forgotten Donnie was even there.

“Tsk.” You faintly heard him respond, as he went back to his computer monitor.

The Talking Heads slowly faded out, and a new song began to play—one you recognized instantly, pulling your attention away from the sleeping robot beside you. It was “Romance is Boring” by Los Campesinos, which gave you a small surprise. Something you’d begun to notice was how slowly, your own favorite songs and bands would get implemented to the same long playlist that would play in the background while you and Donnie worked together these past few days.

You rolled your eyes and glanced back to Donnie, watching as he rolled his chair to another table in the lab and began to search through the many stray items that were scattered on it. It was mostly just pieces of scrap metal, some tools, and other loose pieces over junk—but was he moved stuff around the table, a small, round object fell onto the floor, clattering against the ground and grabbing your curiosity.

“What’s this?” you hummed out boredly, contrary to how interested you actually were, as Donnie bent down to pick up the object.

He perked his head up back at you, before glancing down at the object in his hands again.

“Oh, that’s just a prototype,” he said off handedly, getting up from his chair and setting it back on the table. “It’s meant to be a kind of.. an energy amplifier, of sorts. But I’m still working out the kinks though.”

You rested your head in the palm of your hand. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Ah, it either keeps blowing up on me or shutting off completely—though I’m getting close to a breakthrough,” he paused, looking rather annoyed. “But I haven’t really had the time to mess with it since I started focusing on this whole mutant situation recently.”

You furrowed your brows and looked at the energy amplifier.

“Woah.. that’s like, really cool, dude. You’re gonna finish it, right?” You asked, looking back up at his face.

“Mm.. maybe, though I was kind of just thinking about scrapping it.. I was mainly just using it to test a few different resources I’d been wanting to experiment with,” He shrugged, stilling looking the amplifier over.

“You should finish it,” You found yourself suggesting, “I mean, you said you were close to figuring out the issues, right? You should finish it.”

Donnie glared over at you, holding a lost in thought look. 

“..Maybe,” he shrugged, looking back at the malfunctioning power amplifier. “I might.”

“You should,” you nodded, before taking a moment to glance at your phone.

Your eyes widened when you noticed the time. One in the goddamn morning. 

Fuck. And you had school tomorrow. 

“Fucking hell—dude, I gotta go. I stayed way later than I meant to,” you scrambled off your seat, grabbing your shit and giving S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N one last little pat before you headed towards the lab entrance.

Donnie threw a careless hand up as goodbye as he continued looking over the amplifier while you dashed out the automatic doors. “Save travels and what not.” He said, not sounding like he cared too much.

The bell rang, making you and several other students shoot up from your desks and file out of Ms. Keener’s classroom, as she desperately tried to hand out today’s English homework—only to be ignored by every student who passed her (who gave out homework on the first day, anyway? Be for real, Keener..). You pushed your way out into the crowding hallway, weaving between students as you fought your way to your new locker.

The worst part of summer (besides finding talking turtles in the middle of alleyways and getting attacked by giant, monster animal things) was when it ended, and unfortunately for you and the rest of the student body, it had. 

You had been nervous to start your Junior year, but with your two new friendships with April and Sunita (and Casey, but apparently she didn’t attend high school. You figured it was probably related to once being stuck in a foot cult), you had decided it wouldn’t be too bad. 

“Heyoooo!!” A voice chimed in your ear, making you cringe away and almost bump into another student. You turned and smiled at a friendly face.

“Hey April, how were your classes?”

“Boring,” April groaned, “All we did was ice breakers. What about you? Where’s your next class?”

“Uhhmmm.. I think American History? With Ms. Fouse. Yeah. With Ms. Fouse,” you nodded.

“Really? Same! Thank god, I did not want to go through a whole semester without any classes with you,” April huffed, leaning against your arm as you walked. You laughed at this, when suddenly you felt a shoulder roughly bump into yours, knocking you into April a bit.

“Hey!” April called back to the student you’d knocked into, her eyes trailing after them as they continued down the hallway. Your eyes widened at the familiar purple dyed hair. The girl barely glanced back over her shoulder, sending you a small scowl before continuing to ignore April.

You watched her disappear back into the crowd, a usual sense of dread pooling in your stomach. You heard April scoff beside you, snapping your attention back onto her.

“Ignore her,” April rolled her eyes, “That’s just Kendra.. we do not have a good history together..”

You gave a small nod, flashing a quick back into the hall. “Yeah.. no, trust me.. we don’t either..”

You felt April send an odd look your way, your comment peaking her interest. 

“Oooh.. you know Kendra?? Spiiillll! What’s the tea??” April asked excitedly, shaking your arm as you continued down the hall.

You couldn’t help but snort. “It’s a long story,” you waved her off, “I mean, if you know Kendra, you and I have probably had similar experiences..”

An amused look crosses April’s face as she shakes her head. “Oh.. I doubt it.”

You didn’t comment on this, wanting to drop the topic quickly, and made your way to your next class. 

You both walked into Ms. Fouse’s room, taking two empty seats in the back as she rambled on about her syllabus for the semester. You sat there bored the whole time, occasionally passing notes with April as you waited for class to end.

Thankfully, soon the final bell rang and you were eventually free from your temporary, seven hour prison. You waved goodbye to April—who was both heading back down to the lair—as you turned to start making your way home. 

You managed to make it back to your apartment with relative ease (you were able to survive the crowded subway, which was a nightmare all on its own), and entered your building, riding the elevator up to your floor.

You closed the apartment door behind you, tucking the spare key into your pocket as you turned to greet your aunt in the kitchen.

“Ah, you’re home! How was the first day back?” Aunt Lynn asked, taking a sip of her coffee before looking back down at some papers set in front of her. “Absolute hell, I can imagine?”

“Good guess,” you grinned, “How was your day?”

“Ah, boring as usual. Got some crocheting done,” she said, holding up a thick wade of tangled, orange yarn that was sitting out on the countertop. You tried to hide your laughter.

“What even is that??” 

“It’s a fox! What? You can’t tell?” She asked, looking mildly offended, before stretching the yarn wad out towards you and shaking it around slightly. “Yeah, (y/n)! Can’t you tell??” She spoke in a squawky, high pitched voice.

You rolled your eyes as you gazed back at the ‘fox’. 

“Ah, yes, I see,” your eyes squinted as you gave a humored grin, “My mistake—sorry about that, little guy.” You looked back at your aunt, “Please tell me you're gonna put him out in the living room.”

“And let our nonexistent house guests know about my failure as a crocheter? God no,” She shook her head, resting the yarn wad back on the counter, “There goes another failed five dollar craft kit from Target down the drain.”

“Ah, c’mon, it isn’t that bad,” you tried to comfort, leaning over the counter and taking the small ‘fox’ into your hands.

Your aunt looked you dead in the eyes. 

“Yeah, I knew that was bullshit the moment that left my mouth..”

Your aunt gave you a heartwarming smile, before she clicked her tongue and stood up straight. “I was gonna watch some trash reality Tv. Wanna join me until I head off for my shift?”

“Hell yes, I do,” you answered quickly, before rushing over to the couch and leaping over the side. You then grabbed the remote and set Mr. Fox on the coffee table.

“Woah, slow down kid! I may be a licensed medical professional, but that doesn’t mean you should go trying to get a concussion every chance you get,” your aunt shook her head, making her way into the living room.

“But then what’s the point???” You whined, throwing your head back over the couch to look at her, leaving her to lightly flick your forehead as she moved around to sit beside you.

“You’re such a turd,” your aunt huffed, snatching the remote from you and putting on old reruns of Kondescending Kitchen.

You spend a good few hours binging the show, poking fun at most of the contents and cracking up laughing every time Rupert Swaggart began to curse them all out, until your aunt glanced at her phone and pulled herself off the couch.

“Already kid, I gotta head off. Make sure you go to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour tonight, okay?” She said, ruffling your hair as she walked by and grabbed her jacket off the coat rack by the door. 

“My night is at the mercy of my screwed up sleep schedule,” you said, raising your hand up in mock defense. 

Your aunt rolled her eyes, slinging her purse over her shoulder. “I’m serious,” she said in a light, yet scolding manner, the way she usually was when trying to gently ‘instruct’ you. “You’re not on summer hours anymore. You’re a growing teen, you need your sleep.”

You groaned and flopped down across the whole couch.

“I know, I know, but I have to parent you sometimes, okay? I can’t always be your bomb-ass aunt.”

“Boo,” you continued to gripe, before lifting up a limp arm to wave goodbye. “Bye, lame-ass aunt.”

“Pfft—bye, turd child.”

You heard the door open, and then slowly shut, with your aunt locking the door behind her. 

You sit up on the couch, boredom slowly taking over as you forcibly pull yourself up. Well, may as well lay on something comfier then the crusty ass living room couch if you aren’t going to do anything super productive.. 

You drag yourself back onto your feet and grab your backpack, making your way back onto your room.

You stepped back into your room, flipping off the lights and flopping hard onto the center of your bed. Sluggishly, you rolled onto your back with a groan, gazing up at the dull, plastic stars that were perpetually stuck to your bedroom ceiling as you let exhaustion crash over you. The first day back was always wearying, and this time was no exception. 

You closed your eyes, taking in a deep breath as you felt your mind slowly shutting down. Okay, yeah—you were absolutely not moving from this spot until you got a full nine hours of sleep. Slumber was finally starting to settle down in your brain, and you let your body relax from the long day, knowing that rest was only just a few seconds away–

Tap, tap tap.

Despite your eyes still being closed, your mind was fully awake. What the fuck was that.

Tap, tap, tap!

Holy shit. Holy shit. Was that coming from your window?

You pried your eyes open, peeking from the corner of your eye to notice a dark figure just outside your window, out on the fire escape. You secretly watched it for a moment more, before the tapping sound continued.

TAP, TAP, TAP.

You stared at the window, completely frozen in fear and you internally debated what you should do—when you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. Slowly, you fished your phone out from your back pocket and tapped on the screen, temporarily blinding yourself from the brightness of it. You squinted your eyes, reading the text message on the screen.

You wordlessly stood to your feet once more and walked over to the window, pulling it open.

“You have five seconds to explain why you’re here before I shove you off that fire escape,” you say emotionlessly.

“Oh, good. You got my text,” Donnie said, not looking at you as he typed on the tablet on his armband. “Come on, we haven’t got all night.”

“Haven’t got all..? Dude, the fuck are you talking about??”

Donnie looked up at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Uhmm… we’re going to the repo lot to get more supplies..?”

“Uhmm… no the fuck we are not???” You retort back.

Donnie blinked at you for a few seconds.

You let out a defeated sigh.

“Fine,” you released a relented sigh, “Let me get my shoes on.”

“I don’t get why you’re so pissed off,” Donnie continued to complain as you stormed down the sidewalk beside him, your brain bubbling with frustration.

“Because when you said ‘later’ I didn’t think you meant nine o’clock at night.”

“What! You told me you couldn’t come because of school! I came by when you were out of school!” Donnie shrugged. 

You face palmed. “For a scientific genius, you sure are a dumbass.”

“Scoff. There was no need to be rude.”

“Fuck off.”

Donnie snickered, shaking his head. “You do not appear to be in a pleasant mood tonight,” he pointed out with a slight grin.

“Why do you think? Today was fucking hell, like I knew it’d be..” you grumbled, kicking at the loose pebbles on the sidewalk.

“Oh?” Donnie raised a brow, holding a humored look, “Not a fan of school? But I thought you were one for acquiring new knowledge.”

“Yeah, when it’s related to something that’s actually interesting. Not fucking Shakespeare, like in my dumb English class.. .”

“Blasphemer!” Donnie dramatically cried out with an offended gasp, momentarily earning a few stray looks from other fellow peers, “Shakespeare was ahead of his time. Thou can simply not comprehend his greatness.”

“He wrote a suicidal romance story between a thirteen year old and seventeen year old, who both also happen to be cousins.” Donnie scrunched his nose up at you. You snorted. “Though, I will admit,” you said with the click on your tongue, “I am very fond of the 2012 Gnomeo and Juliet adaptation—”

“Oh my fucking god, stop.”

As bubbling laughter rose from your chest, you both continued through the empty streets. You turned to Donnie with a grin.

“Okay, okay.. I do like some of my classes—except with stupid Oral Comm class I have to take. I already know how to talk my mouth off, what makes them think I can’t do it in front of a crowd of people??” You ranted, “Seriously! And the teacher, Mrs. Lamb, is a total pushover— you know how I know?”

You looked at Donnie like you were expecting a response, but before he could even open his mouth, you carried on.

“Because the first thing she told us when she started class was that this was her first year teaching! Which if you don’t know, that’s a big no-no when you’re teaching a bunch of stuck up, teenage assholes.”

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head.

Donnie gave an amused huff.

“You’re… really passionate about this.”

You glared over at him. “Dude, you haven’t even seen passion yet. Just wait until you hear my rant about the ending of Game of Thrones.”

“Oh my god, no.”

“Oh my god, yes.”

Donnie glared over at you with a amused expression, before he opened his mouth to respond—when suddenly a loud clang echoed throughout the streets.

The air stilled as the light mood between the both of you just up and vanished.

“That sounded.. ominous.”

Donnie nodded. “Yeah.. you could say that.”

You glanced at him. “Do we.. go check that out?”

He let out a small, slightly annoyed huff and pulled out his tech-bo. “Yep.”

You both walked down the sidewalk with great hesitance, when Donnie suddenly noticed the sound of rustling, like claws slowly tearing through metal, from the alley in front of you. He held his arm out over you, gesturing for you to keep back while he went to check it out. You didn’t complain as you stayed back in the safety of the open streets.

You watched as Donnie approached the entrance of the alley and peered inside. It was kind of funny to watch from a distance (it kinda reminded you of those old cartoons from the forties). He looked inside for a moment before he turned to you with slightly wide eyes.

“I think something’s in there—”

Before he could even finish his sentence, a large, hairy figure leaped out of the alley and tackled him out into the road and sidewalk.

“HOLY SHIT.”

You felt your body freeze up as you watched Donnie fight back against the creature, using his staff to push it back. You stared in horror as its claws and fangs lashed out into the moonlight. 

It—it was that thing.

That mutant.

It was back.

Donnie tussled with the badger mutant for a before he was able to throw it off and scramble away.

“Fuck!” He cried out, landing beside you again and spinning his tech bo a bit as he steadied himself from the surprise attack

“Dude, we got to get the hell out of here,” you hissed out, a squeezing pain in your chest and a phantom ache in your ankle.

Donnie narrowed his gaze at the badger, watching as it rose back to his feet after being knocked down and charging back over to the both of you.

“Hold on,” he said, getting into a fighting stance as one of his battle shell’s mechanical arms stretched out to hand him something. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to test out..”

You spotted the faint purple glow in his hand, but before you could get a better look, the badger mutant lunged at you, causing you to jump away from each other to dodge its attack.

“Something you wanna test out?!” you hissed out from the opposite side of the street, watching as he attached the bright neon glow in his hand to his tech-no. You turned towards the badger, spotting it now had its attention on you. “How about trying not to die first!”

You quickly dove out of the way just as it was about to charge into you, a burning pain shooting through your arm that took the blunt of your fall. You fought to try and get back on your feet, but just as you did, a heavy force pinned you back to the ground, a hungry, raging breath panting above you. You looked up, a familiar feeling of terror washing over you as you looked at the badger mutant that was looking down at you with empty, cold eyes.

Your fight or flight response refused to kick in as you stared back in horror and fear. Not again—this was not happening again—

You couldn’t do this again—

The extra weight on your body soon disappeared as the mutant was swiftly and brutally knocked away by a powerful purple glow. You watched as Donnie’s tech-bo (which somehow looked like a bulky rocket hammer thing now? Holy fuck this really was starting to feel like an old cartoon–) crashed against the mutant, effectively hitting it off you with one, fatal swing.

You found your breath again (which you hadn’t even realized you lost) and hurried to your feet. You looked over at Donnie with wide eyes, catching the small little attachment wrapped around under the tip off his staff. 

“The.. the amplifier thingy..” you recalled. “You got it to work!”

“Huh, I wasn't expecting that to actually do anything…” Donnie mumbled thoughtfully to himself as he gazed down at his tech-bo, as it switched back to its normal form. 

“Did.. you have a backup plan if it didn’t work?”

Donnie glanced at you, then back at his tech-bo.

“Uhm..” he stalled, “Not really.”

You stared at him.

Donnie looked back.

“Why are you glaring at me—”

“I’m hoping you’ll spontaneously combust.”

“Oh.”

He nodded his head and shrugged.

“That’s fair.”

Before you could respond, a large growl sounded from the distance, making you look over at the badger mutant again. It raised itself off the ground after crashing into one of the nearby buildings (thanks to Donnie), and shook off the small bits of crumbling debris as it glared back at you with angry red eyes.

“So, what’s the plan?” You asked, getting into a defensive stance as you stared back at it, fear still coursing through your veins.

Donnie let out a scoffing laugh.

“Well, know that I know this works,” he grinned, peering down at his staff, “It’s time to run a few tests, so to speak.”

Then, suddenly within the blink of an eye, he dashed back towards mutant, meeting it head on as he battled with his newly powered up tech-Bo. You watched as the badger tried and failed to dodge his attacks, practically cowering from his staff as he swung hit after hit.

But as the fight continued, you found yourself wanting to cough—and that was when you noticed the gray—nearly black—smoke that was slowly filling the street. You covered your mouth with your arm sleeve, trying to get a better view of the battle between Donnie and the badger, when you realized the smoke was coming from the mutant.

As Donnie leaped into the air, ready to hit with a final blow, you watched as the badger literally turned into a puff of smoke right before your eyes, as Donnie went face-planting right into the ground. Then, with even more disbelief, you watched as the badger formed back together. 

“What the—” you heard Donnie start to say as he tried to push himself up, before the mutant used its clawed arm to knock him back, sending him skidding against the pavement.

You choked out another cough as you tried to run over to him, but the smoke was getting too much. You couldn’t—you couldn’t see anything. 

“Donnie?” You called out, able to hear the panic in your voice. “Donnie!? Where are you??”

You tried looking around, when you spotted a faint, purple glow in the distance. Relief crashed over you as you raced towards it, you never thought you’d been happy to see Donnie but here we were—

But when you reached the purple glow, the only thing you could find was Donnie’s staff, the strong shine coming from the energy source he slapped on it.

Just as soon as it had left you, fear had quickly overtook your body as you shakily grabbed the staff, using it to light your way.

“Donnie??” You called out again, before you felt a shiver run down your spine as a small, hot breath hit the back of your head.

Slowly you turned around, seeing the large badger hovering over you.

“Oh, fuck me—”

You felt a large, hairy arm swipe at your torso, knocking you to the side. You kept a firm grip on Donnie’s tech-bo as you stared up at the mutant with fear. Slowly, it approached you, a violent, angry look in its eye.

“Stay—stay back!” You croaked out, swung the staff around in some (poor) attempt to defend yourself.

But as you did, you noticed the badger tense up a bit, glaring at the tech-bo as it took a step back.

Was it.. was it afraid of Donnie’s staff..??

Seeing it was distracted by the tech-bo, you scrambled to your feet, continuing to swing wildly at it.

“C’mon, you ugly loser! You scared of a fucking stick?! Huh?? Is that it??” You seethed, a new found frustration filling your veins as you tried to lunge at the mutant. It dodged easily, of course, but it seemed like it was trying to make an effort to put distance between the staff and itself.

“Yeah, that’s right, you mangy dog! How’s it feel to taste your own fucking medicine?!” You tried swinging again, watching it almost look afraid. 

More smoke filled the area, trying to earn a cough from you, but you kept going, keeping slow steps towards the beast that was carefully cowering away from you. 

“You nearly killed me last time, but all I had to do was get a giant, metal stick and I could’ve beaten you?!? This was it?? Fucking pathetic,” you hissed out, not really knowing if that was a jab at the mutant, or at yourself. “It doesn’t matter, I guess. This doesn’t fucking matter. But it’s sure as hell therapeutic!”

You pull your arms back, before charging at the badger and giving one final swing, only to be hit in the face with a puff of smoke. 

You drop the tech-bo, dropping your hands to your knees as you were suddenly sent into a coughing fit.

“Damn it!—” you choked, trying to wave away the smoke and tears welled in the corners of your eye from all the coughing. 

As you tried to look up, you noticed you could see your surroundings again—the smoke was clearing up..

You gazed in front of you, locking eyes with the badger mutant who was several feet away from you. You stared into its bright red eyes for a few moments—though it honestly felt like eternity, before it turned away from you and disappeared into another puff of smoke, this time not returning. 

You wiped your eyes and let out one last small cough as you bent down to pick up the tech-bo. You looked down at it.

Why was it so.. scared of this thing..?

You stared at the purple and silver metal, before you remembered..

“Donnie!” You gasped out, returning around to try and find him in the now clear streets, immediately spotting a figure not far behind you slowly sitting himself up.

You rushed over in a frightened panic as you crouched beside him, violently shaking his shoulder.

“Donnie—holy shit! Did you see that! Holy fuck!”

He groaned in response, holding his arm to his plastron.

“Yep… yep, I saw,” he paused, “I.. I think..? Either I blacked out or.. ughh..” he winced, glancing down at his leg. “Did it.. did that thing turn to smoke??”

“Yeah! It like.. could turn its body into smoke?? ..could it.. could it always do that? Because I don’t think I remember that from last time.”

Donnie let out a pained groan before shaking his head.

“No.. no, I think that’s new.”

A sympathetic pang shot through your heart as you slowly helped him to his feet. You returned his staff back to him, watching as he used it for support.

“Nnngh.. let’s just head back to the lair..” he huffed, looking battered and bruised, with a notably long, nasty cut on his leg. “Shit!”

You watched as he winced from his bloodied leg.

“Dude, we gotta get you patched up—like, now.”

“You think I don’t know that?” He spat, letting out a grunt as he looked himself over, “That’s why we need to head back to the lair.”

As much of an ass as he was being at the moment (though you really couldn’t blame him since he did get the shit knocked out of him), you narrowed your gaze

“Nah, the lair’s too far from here. You need to get patched up now. Trust me,” you said, looking around at where you were, “We’re not far from my place. Let’s just head back there and then I can fix you up, okay?”

“What?? No, absolutely not!” Donnie quickly argued, “We can not risk your family seeing me.”

“Dude, chillax—my aunt is at work right now and she won’t be back until much, much later, so no one will be home.” You gave Donnie a look. “C’mon, I’m being serious right now.”

Donnie studied your gaze for a moment before heaving a sigh. 

“Fine. You’re lucky I’m suffering for quite a bit of blood loss right now… and maybe a concussion.. ugh..” he slumped against his staff a bit as he tried to manage his balance. You glanced down at his leg again and realized just how bad it really was.

“Oof.. yeah, okay.. here, just until we get to my place,” You shrugged off your jacket and crouched down, carefully tying it around the wound to prevent any further major bleeding. You heard Donnie wince, but when you rose back to your feet, he grunted out a thank you and you both soon began your sluggish trek back home.

After having to practically drag Donnie back to your apartment building, you decided it probably wouldn’t be the smartest idea to have him climb the fire escape—so instead you snuck your way through the apartment lobby (the only person there was the front desk lady who was passed out on her keyboard) and slipped into the elevator. You crept down to your front door and as Donnie leaned against the wall for further support, you rummaged through your bag for your keys. 

“Here it is,” you grumbled, pushing over the door. “Make yourself at home. You can rest on the couch while I get the first aid kit. Oh, and don’t mind the deformed crochet fox.”

“Uhmmmm… okay..??” You heard Donnie questionably respond, as he limped towards the living room.

You made a beeline for the bathroom, rather hastily throwing open the cabinet under the sink and grabbing the familiar first aid kit. You remembered how your aunt used to make you go through it at least once a month to make sure you knew how to use everything properly and what it was all for—she stopped doing it after some time, but you were praying your skills weren’t super rusty.

In the distance, you could hear a disturbed ‘oh my god’, telling you that Donnie had found Mr. Fox, as you headed back into the living room.

“What is that fucking thing.”

Donnie stared at the odd looking wad of yarn that sat on the coffee table.

“My aunt’s attempt at crocheting,” you say, settling down on the other end of the couch and opening up the first aid kit. “Make sure to not look it in the eyes. Otherwise it might try to possess your soul.”

Donnie stared up at you, as if considering if you were being serious or not. After a moment, he came to a conclusion as slumped back against the couch.

“Your aunt is.. a talented crocheter..” He said, obviously, lying through his teeth.

You snorted immediately. “No, the fuck she is not,” You wheezed out, settling down on the couch with him and cracking open the first aid kit. You tried to do a quick checklist of all the things you’d need, before you realized how long this was all probably gonna take. “Hey, this is gonna take a while. Want me to put a movie on or something?”

Donnie gave a careless shrug. “Yeah, alright,” he nodded as you reached for the remote and pulled up Netflix. 

“Know any good movies to have in the background while you clean out your friend’s wounds??” You joked, searching through the different selections, before a title caught your eye. “Wait, shut up shut up shut up—I found a movie,” you interrupted Donnie just as he was about to respond, clicking on the movie and pulling it up onto the screen.

He looked at the Tv before giving you an odd look.

“Really,” he said with an unamused tone, “You picked Mean Girls .”

“Yeah brainiac, I did,” you grinned proudly, “And unless you want to bleed all over my couch, I suggest you deal with it.”

Donnie raised his eyebrows a bit and held up his hands in defense. “Hey, I’m as much of a Mean Girls fan as much as the next guy.”

“Yeah? I figured you were like some Marvel stan or something—not that I would necessarily blame you, have you seen Chris Evans? Have you seen his ass? Like, damn.”

Donnie chuckled, as Cady was just beginning to meet Damien and Janis for the first time. “As much as I am a fan of Doctor Strange, I can’t say I’m much of a superhero stan,” he laughed, “But bitchy high school teen girl drama? That is where it is at.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” you cried out, “Now give me your leg, I gotta look it over before I can do anything.”

Donnie rolled his eyes and turned slightly, letting his leg rest in the couch space between the both of you.

“Thank you,” You give a sarcastic grin, untying your jacket (now lovingly drenched in his blood) from his leg and tossing it aside. “Let’s see what’s going on here..”

You look over the wound, trying desperately to recall all the medical training your aunt had once given you all that time ago. It seemed that despite how bloody your jacket was, it wasn’t actually bleeding out that fast, and after taking a few antiseptic wipes and cleaning up around the cut, it didn’t look to be as deep as you thought. 

“Well, I’ve got good news, it’s not as bad as it looks—I mean, it still looks like fucking dog shit, but like, not as shitty dog shit, y’know?”

Donnie glared over at you with an unenthused expression. “No, I do not.”

“Whatever,” you waved him off, “Point being, Badger Man didn’t completely fuck up your leg”

Cady was now getting invited to sit with the Plastics as you began putting antibiotic ointment over the cut. Just out of your line of sight, you could see Donnie struggling not to flinch as he watched the movie, using it as a form of distraction while he tries to ignore the immense amount of pain in his leg. 

A wave of sympathy and guilt washes over you, but you didn’t say anything and continued to seal up the wound with the ointment. You let your mind run over the event that happened, remembering how scared the mutant looked from Donnie’s staff and remembering the cloudy, thick smoke–just the thought made you want to gag again. 

“I.. I still don’t understand how it could do that—how it could just turn into smoke? How was it even able to do that??” You asked, grabbing a roll of gauze and unraveling it a bit. 

“Well..” he huffed, “Back when we were dealing with the original Oozquitoes.. besides turning into mutant, if you were bitten, you’d also develop a power of some kind. Think regeneration, hypnosis, stealing other people’s abilities for a brief amount of time, …niceness apparently.” He shrugged. “But with these new mutants, I hadn’t seen a notion of a developed supernatural power.. not until now at least.. This whole time I just assumed.. they didn’t have one.”

You stared at him with a mixture of horror and intrigue. “They all have superpowers? Do you??”

“Uhm.. well, I mean.. technically speaking, I guess so, but—”

“You guys have superpowers and you didn’t think to mention that??”

“It wasn’t my idea!” Donnie argued. Then he paused. “Oh, wait.. yeah, it was… anyway! It wasn’t like I could just casually throw that into conversation!” He let out a huff as you began wrapping up his leg. “..I just don’t understand why it’s now using its power?? And the other mutants the guys and I have run into before, why haven’t they been using it?!”

Now it was the Halloween party, with Regina screwing over a zombie bride dressed Cady.

You looked over at him, unable to give a solid answer. Your eyes trail down to his arm then up to his staff that he had laid on the back of the couch. You stared at the glowing energy source, recalling just how scared the badger looked at the tech-bo.

“Do you think.. maybe it has something to do with.. like.. animal stuff?”

Donnie raised a brow.

“Like—y’know.. like how every animal has like, their own way of defense when they feel threatened? Like how porcupines use their quills to discourage attackers, or something,” you explained, “What if it was like that? What if the mutants haven’t felt truly threatened by us until tonight?”

Donnie looked at you for a moment before he let his eyes travel down to his leg in thought.

“I.. you might be onto something actually..” he muttered, glancing over at his tech-bo. 

“It was scared of that, or at least, that’s what made it react weirdly,” you added, nodding towards the staff.

“But that doesn’t make sense. I’ve had my staff with me since those things started showing up.. unless.. it’s not the staff.”

You both stared at the energy source, and Donnie reached over, detaching it from the staff. He held it in his hands.

“You think it’s scared of.. that?”

“I mean, what else?” He shrugged.

You sat in silence together for a moment before you finished taking care of the other scrapes and cuts on him. You closed up the first aid kit, taking it back to the bathroom and throwing your bloody jacket into the wash, before settling back onto the couch and watching as the main trio plotted to dethrone Regina, starting with them trying to make Aaron Catch her cheating on him, with “One Way or Another” blaring during it all. 

You both focused on the movie for a bit before you glanced down at Donnie’s leg, then over at him..

“Are.. are you okay..? I mean, earlier all of that was... very intense,” you said, sucking a bit of nervous air through your teeth as you tried to read the thoughts going through his head.

You watched him shift his gaze towards you.”

“Are you?” he asked instead, surprising you.

You stared at him, trying to decide if this was a genuine question or not.

“Pfft..! Yeah, of course I’m fine—I’m more worried about you. I mean, look at you! You basically got mauled by an oversized ‘Smokey The Bear’.”

Donnie huffed out a laugh as he leaned his head back on the couch and looked back at the screen.

“I mean..” he paused for a moment, “Nevermind.”

You gave Donnie a look, but when he didn’t turn back toward you, you could only shrug it off and go back to the movie.

It wasn’t until right after Cady’s party that you started to get drowsy. You curled up on the other end of the couch, leaning your arm against the armrest and slumping your cheek into the palm of your hand, your eyes growing heavier and heavier.

At some point—you didn’t really know when—you fell asleep. You didn’t know how long you were out exactly, you just knew that you were awake like that again when the front door suddenly slammed open.

“What are you doing in here?? I thought I said to go to bed at a responsible time.”

You shot your head towards the door, spotting your pissed off aunt in an instant.

It took a brief moment for the gears to start turning before you glanced around the living room in a panic, only to find the other end of the couch empty, the Tv turned off, and a blanket from one of the chairs in the living room now draped over your body.

You blinked for a moment, staring at the blanket before slowly turning back to your aunt.

“Well?” she said with sass, leaning her hand on her hip. Her face screamed annoyance, but then you noticed the slight humor in her tone, making you relax somewhat.

“...It was the fox’s fault,” you accused, pointing at the said crocheted monstrosity. 

Chapter Text

“Do you really expect us to believe that all of this came from you falling off your couch???”  

You shrunk in on yourself as you shoved another soggy cafeteria french fry into your mouth. You struggled to keep eye contact with April, who was currently interrogating you from across the lunch table. You avoided eye contact by casting your eyes back down to your algebra homework. 

“Saaaaay, what did you guys get for number five—”

“Don’t try to change the subject, (L/n)—” April hissed, pointing an accusing finger your way.

“Woah, woah, WOAH..! Those are some pretty big accusations there! Who says I’m changing the subject?? I’m just try to be a good student and get my homework done—”

“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit—”

“Okay, okay— Dial it back O’Neil, let good cop handle this. ” Sunita put a hand on April’s shoulder, pulling her back a bit before looking over at you, “How about this.. If you tell us what happened—I’ll do the rest of your algebra homework for you.”

You watched as she stretched her hand over the table for you to take, you glared at it for a solid minute, thinking over her offer. You glance down at your algebra homework that you were nowhere close to finishing and that was literally due next period, chewing on the side of your cheek. 

“Give me your yogurt stick and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Sunita nodded. “Deal,” she said quickly as you both shook hands, before she handed you her yogurt and grabbed your math worksheet and a pencil. “Now spill.”

“Alright, alright…” you sheepishly looked away, opening up the yogurt packet, “It’s not even that big of a deal anyway.. I just.. Happened to get jumped by one of those mutant things.. Again.. last night..”

The table was silent as both girls stared back at you.

“...What.”

“Uhm… so i know that sounds bad— ”

“Uh yeah— you think??” April hissed through gritted teeth, lowering her voice as you all hovered over the table. She looked over her shoulders, making sure no one was eavesdropping, before glaring back at you. “Why didn’t you call me?!”

“Well sorry, I was kinda busy trying not to get mauled to death! AGAIN.” You scoffed a bit, “Besides, we were fine. We handled things on our own.”

April narrowed her gaze. “And.. who is this ‘we’ you speak of..??”

You shrugged and answered. “Me and Donnie.”

Immediately, Sunita’s nervous and concerned expression shifted to a knowing grin. “Oh, I called it.” She snickered to herself, as you realized your mistake, “..and just what were you two doing together??” Sunita immediately shifted gears, more concerned about about this instead of the literal fucking monster mutant that nearly killed you. Again. 

“Sunita, focus!” April gasped out, lightly smacking her friend’s shoulder before she paused, processing what you just said. She snapped her head back to you. “Wait, you were with Donnie?” She snickered, a teasing look on her face, before it immediately paled, “Wait, you were with Donnie?? Is he alright??”

“I.. think? I haven’t been able to get a response from him all day,” You mumble, showing all your unanswered messages you sent to said turtle. “But considering he normally ignores my texts regardless, I can’t tell if this is a bad sign or not.” You then glared over at Sunita. “And for your information, we were going to get more parts for the Bug Slapper.. which I’m now realizing we didn’t do.. fuck.” You grimaced, frustrated that you both weren’t able to get any of the supplies Donnie needed. 

“No biggie, I’m sure he can just get the parts some other time,” April shrugged, grabbing a fry from your tray.

You sighed a bit and glanced away. “Yeah.. I just.. we’re this close to finishing, and the sooner we finish, the quicker we can take care of those bug things, y’know?” You huffed, leaning your chin on the palm of your hand.

You didn’t fail to notice the sympathetic gazes that both Sunita and April were giving you, before suddenly Sunita’s eyes brightened with an idea.

“Ooooooo! What if we went to that old Albeartoland that shut down last year? I’m sure that place is full of parts you and Donnie could use!” She suggested, leaning on the table a bit.

“Oh wait, yeah!” April nodded, “The place is abandoned. Those old attractions have been in use for like, ever. We could go tonight.”

You looked at Sunita, and then April. “..you..both do realize you’re suggesting breaking and entering… right?”

They both looked back at you. 

“So?”

You pursed your lips. You should’ve seen that coming.

“Yeah, alright.” You shrugged your shoulders, nodding along. “Why not.”

The hallway lights peeking through under your bedroom door flicked off, with the distant sound of your aunt’s footsteps disappearing to her room.

The coast was clear. Now all you had to wait for the girls to come pick you up, and you could get on with what was now becoming your routine of sneaking out without your aunt’s knowledge or permission. You stared up at the ceiling of your bedroom, the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Soundtrack blaring from your headphones in an attempt to drown out any approaching thoughts from last night as you waited for the girls to come pick you up. 

With “I Heard Ramona Sing” playing into your ears, you were struggling with the paranoia sneaking up on you. You honestly didn’t know how many more surprise ‘visits’ you could take from that fucking badger—and apparently it wasn’t the only one. There were more of these things, things that the boys had to fight all on their own and could barely handle themselves. And they’ve been doing this ninja-y stuff for years. 

How were you—a weak as fuck high school with zero special mutant ninja training—supposed to defend yourself??  Answer; you couldn’t, so best start writing that will and testament, buddy. Because if you somehow survive until Christmas, it’d be a fucking miracle.

You knew Casey, Sunita, and April could all handle themselves just fine—hell, you’ve seen them handle themselves, but you? You could barely throw a solid punch, much less fight. You are basically just deadweight, you’ve barely escaped all three times your life was endangered and you didn’t know how many times you could keep getting by with close calls—especially if you were planning on sticking around these guys for much longer. 

You still felt conflicted about—well, everything, and last night’s event did not really help. You really just wanted to hide under your covers and pretend none of this was real. Oh, how you’d love to do that. Sometimes you scream at your for stepping into the stupid alleyway. Sometimes you hit yourself in the head for even asking to join Donnie down to the hidden city. And sometimes, you can’t help but curse at the sky for effectively screwing your life over.

Talk mutant animals and genetic altering bugs and magic, fantasy creatures under the city—

You didn’t even know how to begin with all of it if you were to explain this to anyone—which, heh, ya’ couldn’t. Because, oh yeah, if the world found out about any of this, who knows what the fuck would happen?? And now that you were actually friends with these guys, you didn’t want to be responsible for anything bad happening to them. Also, you did not want to see your aunt’s reaction to you sneaking out every other night to hang out with giant talking turtles. Yeah, that’s a conversation you’d like to skip, thank you very much,

Just as you were about to spam call April’s ass (because holy shit, she was taking forever to get here—), your phone buzzed. You huffed out a breath through your nose and peered at the screen. We’ll speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

April💚💛

heer 

Herr

Jere

DAMNIT

Sent 9:36

🛼

H-E-R-E

Read

April💚💛

YEAH

THAT

I KNWO HOW TO FKCING SPELL THAKNS

Sent 9:37

🛼

Just making sure

So.. should I come out?

Read

April💚💛

Y/N

I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERR GAY

Sent 9:38

🛼

WHAT

Read

April💚💛

BEEEE WHHOOOO YOU AAARRREEE

Sent 9:38

🛼

No

Please

Read

April💚💛

FOR YOUR PRRIIIIIIDDDDEEEEE

Sent 9:39

🛼

God damn you

Read

April💚💛

Alr alr

Yaeh we’re here

get down here you dweeb

Sent 9:40

After that excellent exchange, you sat up on your bed and pulled off your headphones, letting them hang around your neck and you pulled your sneakers on. You quickly grabbed your backpack—now emptied of all the homework you totally were gonna do later (lies)—and unlocked the clasp on your window. You slowly pushed it open, since the damn thing liked to squeak its ass off if you weren’t careful, and stuck your foot out onto the fire escape. Just as slowly, you crawled through your window and shut it behind you, before looking down into the darkened alleyway to see three shadowy figures.

“Did you seriously call me a dweeb??” You called down to one of the figures.

“Whatever! Just get down here! It’s fucking cold!” April yelled back, as you began to descend down the old, rickety fire escape.

“So,” you said once you made it to solid ground, “Where is this Albeartoland?”

“You’ve never been?” Sunita asked as you began walking down the sidewalk.

“Nah, the animatronics freak out my aunt.” 

“Dude, the animatronics freak me out!” April exclaimed, “You guys weren’t there when he came to life during my shift!”

“Wait what—” you were about to question April’s statement, when Sunita quickly interrupted you with a gasp.

“OH-EM-GEE, do you guys remember that Twister ride??” She asked Casey and April.

“That ride made me sick.. I liked going on the Glider!” April spoke dramatically, with vibrant jazz hands. She looked at you with an excited look. “Oooooh, I just wish you could’ve gone when it was open. The place was like a cheap ass Disneyland, but man was it fun!”

You chuckle and wave her off gently. “That’s alright. Theme park rides tend to make me nauseous anyway.. I’d rather not have several near death experiences in one afternoon, thanks.”

“Like that’s any different from your life now,” Casey huffed out, hands shoved in her coat pockets. 

“Truuuuue..” Sunita drawled out, before her eyes lit up again, “Oh, oh! Did you guys ever eat those amazing churros they had?? Because oh my goooooood—”

“YES. Holy shit—I swear that was literally the only edible thing in the whole park,” April rolled her eyes as you continued walking. 

You all kept up idle chatter as you walked down to the boardwalk. In the near distance, you could make out a giant sign and the silhouette of an old, abandoned theme park. 

You approached with hesitance, falling a bit behind April and the girls as they walked forward with nonchalance. Breaking and entering.. this wasn’t exactly in your wheelhouse. So, yes—maybe you were a bit nervous stepping inside an abandoned theme park with potentially haunted animatronics. Based on a certain game franchise.. you had a feeling this couldn’t end well. Like, at all.

But you refused to look like a fucking wimp in front of an ex-cultist, a goo girl, and the April O’Neil. So in you followed, into the dark, eerie amusement park.

It was just as you thought it was, old, rundown, and decrepit. All the rides looked rested and ruined, and all the food stands and carnival games that were displayed through the park looked to have already been raided and destroyed. It had only been just over a year since the place officially shut down, but it already looked like it had been sitting here for a decade at least. Maybe two.

You all stopped in front of the pizza themed scrambler ride and pulled out your flash lights. You clicked your on, accidentally shining it in Sunita’s eyes.

“Shit! Sorry,” you quickly apologized as you averted the beam of light to the wooden dock under your feet. The wood looked worn, with holes of various sizes littered throughout, giving a small sneak peek of just what was underneath the park.

“Alright, Sunita and Casey will take the left side, (Y/n) and I will handle the right. Sound good?” April asked, looking around the group, with everyone responding with a nod—minus Casey, who stiffened up her limps and did a quick bow.

“UNDERSTOOD.” She said, before grabbing Sunita by the wrist and sprinting seeping into the park without another word, unknowingly dragging Sunita along on the ground.

April watched them disappear, before cupping her hands around her mouth. “And keep your phones on you! Call if there’s any trouble!” She yelled out, but neither of you knew if the message was received.

After a moment, April fixed her hands on her hips and turned to you with an optimistic expression. “Well! Ready to get scavenging??”

“Nope!” You spoke with just as much enthusiasm, “Let’s get to it.” 

April grinned and took you by the arm, leading you through the park.

You passed many broken down rides, damaged and rusted. Some of them had been tagged by dumb punks with spray paint, some of the external parts and panels had been torn off, and you were sure that the chances of getting tetanus just shot up by 300%.

“Sooooo…” April trailed off as you walked together, looking around for any scrap metal that hadn’t been too rusted or dented. 

“Yeah?” You raised an eyebrow towards her direction, before you turned your head and spotted an old drop tower. You waved her over, noticing the metal around the base was still pretty intact and in fair condition.

“..I’m just curious, but.. why’re you helping Donnie again? I thought you two.. er, what did you call him that one time..?” She paused for a moment, tapping her chin as you bent over to start yanking away the old metal shell around the base of the ride, “Oh yeah, that he was—and I quote— “A little purple bitch with bitch boy behavior who also happens to be a giant bitch” .”

You glanced away awkwardly, pursing your lips. “I don’t think I said it like that—”

“And I quote, (y/n)— AND. I. QUOTE.”

“Okay, okay!” You sighed, successfully pulling a small piece of scrap metal from the base and chucking it into your empty bag. “So.. so maybe I just wanted to help him, alright? I mean, I kinda owed him one. He did give my headphones a major upgrade after I wrecked ‘em..”

“Wait, he did huh??” 

“He fixed them,” you said, shrugging your shoulders, “You don’t remember? You were literally there when he was giving them to me. We had this whole big realization that we all knew each other??”

“I—well, in my defense, we kinda skipped over that part and went straight to Donnie secretly knowing you,” she muttered, holding her hands up. 

“Well, now you know,” you huffed out, as you struggled with pulling off a bigger chunk of metal. April quickly came to your aid and with both of your strength (or lack thereof) combined, together you successfully yanked it free from the base. “I accidentally broke them when we went to the Hidden City and he offered to fix them. I told him he didn’t have to do that, since—y’know, we didn’t really know each other that well and whatever—but he kept insisting so. Yeah.”

April gave you a weird look.

“Huh, that’s.. odd.”

“Not really,” you said, “Isn’t his hold thing, like—building with tech and stuff? If anything, that seemed totally within character for him.”

“No..no, I mean.. nevermind,” April muttered, dipissing her statement.

You continued walking in silence, stopping occasionally to collect more scrap of metal from old decaying rides. You walked past a large show building, used for the ‘Albearto’s Twisty Maze of Mirrors’, which April had faintly recalled constantly getting sick in as a child. 

“Do you think any of these old rides still work?” April asked, admiring the old, abandoned theme park.

“Uhm, I dunno. Probably not, right? I mean, I’m sure they turned the power off for this place a long while ago.” You said, adjusting your heavy backpack carefully on your shoulders.

“Probably, but it’d be cool if this place still had power. I mean, imagine having this whole place to yourself—you’d never have to wait in line for a ride...or the bathroom.”

“Honestly, I dunno what’s worse.. being alone in a theme park with no power.. or being alone in a theme park with everything still on and functional… I mean, the animatronics are creepy enough as is..” you shuttered, earning a snicker from April.

“Oh c’mon, you’ve probably seen ten times worse than a couple of animatronics,” she laughed, nudging your shoulder. “Although, I do agree.. They were pretty weird. And assholes—major, tyrannical assholes…” she grumbled bitterly. Before you opened your mouth to even begin to address that, but April let out a loud gasp and pointed ahead of you both. “OH MY GOD.”

You looked to where her finger was pointing and noticed the Albearto themed carousel just several feet away (by ‘Albearto themed’, you really just meant that all the horse heads had been cheaply sawed off and replaced with furry, bear mascot heads, with their realistic house bodies still intact underneath them). You turned back to April with a less enthusiastic expression.

“It’s .. just a carousel.”

April gasped again out in pure, offended shock as she jerked her head towards you.

“Just a carousel??” April hissed, “Just a carousel?! I was raised by that carousel, thank you very much!” She huffed out, her arms crossed over her chest before she looked back at the ride with a much more delighted look. “C’mon, let’s go see if it still works!” She suggested, forcibly taking you by the arm and pulling you closer towards the carousel.

You both approach the run down old ride, looking curiously at the rusted metal poles that stabbed through each weird horse-bear amalgamation and the red, ripped fabric canopy. The center support on the carousel had peeling paint and cracks that ran through most of the decorative mirrors that had been hung around it.

“C’mon, the controls are around here,” April said, dragging you around the carousel to find a small platform that was attached to the ride, fenced off by a small metal gate with a thin, aluminum sign that screamed in bold letters STAFF ONLY. 

You glanced back at April, who only gestured with her hands to urge you forward, before you sighed and climbed onto the small platform for the console, jumping over the small metal gate used to keep out regular park attendees. 

“Uuh... ” You said, peering down at the small panel, seeing only a few small buttons and a speed dial. You didn’t really understand what it all meant, but seeing as you weren’t a trained Albeartoland employee, that made sense. You decided your best bet was the small, red button labeled ‘POWER ON’. “Here goes nothing..”

Giving the button a quick slap, you stood there behind the console, staring at the carousel intensely as you searched for any type of change. But there were none. The carousel was dark, cold, and still—like it had been frozen and put in a time capsule. Really, the whole place looked like this. 

“Damn,” April grimenced, as you jumped back over the gate gate and off the platform, “Guess you were right.”

You gave her a sympathetic look. “Sorry April, maybe next time—”

But just as you started to put a comforting hand on her back, the lights of the carousel flickered to life, the familiar calliope whistle filling the air as the large, circular platform began to turn. You jumped back, startled out of your mind as April suddenly emitted an astonished gasp.

“OH MY GOOOOOOOD!!” She squealed, a grin quickly replacing her somber frown, violently grabbing your arms and shaking you around in excitement. “(Y/N). IT'S WOOOOOOOORRRRKINGGGG.”

“I NOTICED,” you shouted back as she continued to jostle you. She looked back at you, realizing what she was doing and quickly stopped.

“Heh, sorry.. but looklooklook!! It’s powered on!! C’mon!” She grinned, immediately grabbing your hand and yanking you both towards the moving merry-go-round.

Carefully, you both stepped onto the rotating platform, quickly climbing onto two of the bear-horses before either of you lost balance. You grasped onto the pole that was stuck through the amalgamation, sitting on the uncomfortable aluminum saddle as April hopped onto the one beside you.

“Oh my god, I haven’t been on this in.. forever basically! Just as creepy as I remember,” she grinned, leaning over to get a better look at her horse’s weird bear face.

“Yeah.. I’m starting to realize why this place got shut down..” you mumble, chuckling as you look down at your own ride. 

“Actually it was because a rogue Albearto that came to life tried to start a revolutionary robot takeover and destroy the human race,” April said casually, “Oh, plus all the safety and health code violations.”

“Wha-excuse me ?” You sputtered out.

“Luckily I wasn’t here for that little robo-rebellion though,” April continued, ignoring your look of dismay, “Only the ‘coming to life’ part.”

You stared at her for a moment before giving her a dull, knowing expression.

“Lemme guess,” you huffed out, “Donnie had something to do with it.”

“Doesn’t he always?” She laughed out, slightly shaking her head. You couldn’t help but snicker lightly in agreement. “Remember when I said I was fired from there? Yeah, let’s just say the reason the place got destroyed wasn’t because of an electrical fire..” 

“Of course not..” you chuckled, shaking your head as well. 

Silence wormed its way between you then, as you rode around on the rotating carousel. But just as April began to open her mouth, you suddenly felt the ride come to a halt, the lights flickering and the music cutting out. The darkness consumed you both again, with the only thing lighting the area being the bright, shining moon in the night sky. 

“Oh,” you paused, looking up and around the ride, “Guess this thing only had so much juice left in it.”

April pouted, looking around as well with a disappointed expression.

“Aw man! We barely got to ride!” She whined, lightly kicking her horse-bear either side of her foot, “What a ripoff!!”

You grinned a bit, looking over at her. “Well, we got it working longer than I thought we would,” you said in an attempt to brighten her spirits.

“I guess..” she grumbled, leaning against the pole in front of her and resting her cheek on the rusting metal. Suddenly, she perked her head up and pulled out her phone—and after a few seconds, music started to play (Madonna, of course).

With “Angel” playing faintly from April’s phone, you talked away with ease. She was just such a relaxed person, she didn’t let much get to her. And you’ve noticed you have relaxed a bit too. Maybe she just has that influence on you, or maybe her chill attitude was just that infectious. Regardless, you were happy she was your friend now. You hadn’t really been close with anyone since—

“Oh, hey,” You said, reaching out for her phone, “Let me play something. There’s this band I want to show you.”

Quickly, April handed you her phone, an eager smile on her face. 

Yeah, things were definitely easier with April. You old friends would never have taken any interest in your music.

You put in the name of the band on her Spotify, pressing the first song that popped up—“Armageddon”.

Listening to a variety of different bands, you both continued laughing and gossiping, completely forgetting about the task at hand. You talked for a while, before you both settled into a comfortable silence on your horse-bear things. 

Despite the dark, abandoned atmosphere, you never felt more at ease, sitting there with April, your best friend.

After a moment of silence, she looked back over at you. “Hey.. uhm..”

“..Yeah?” You raised a brow at her, waiting for her to continue.

“Are..” she hesitated for a moment, “..are you okay..?”

Immediately, your expression shifted to a confused one. “..what??”

“I-I mean..” she sat up, gripping the pole with both hands and looking down at her lap. “I just mean.. like.. after last night and.. and well, everything.. I just.. I dunno. I’m worried.”

“About me?” You asked, sounding more surprised than you thought you were. You looked back at her in the cold darkness.

“Yeah well..— yeah. You’ve taken all of this.. shockingly well! Like, most people would absolutely flip the fuck out over this—but you.. you didn’t. So, like, I dunno.” She shrugged her shoulders, before looking back at you.

“Ohhh,” was all you said for a moment as you processed her words. “Well, I mean.. I feel okay. I think, at least.” You looked down at yourself. “I mostly just have a few scratches from last night, so I got off pretty well I think—”

“No—! I mean, like, are you okay. Like, up here,” April explain, tapping her temple with her index finger a few times.

“Oh.” You looked away, scratching your cheek to stall, “Uh.. not.. really..?” You noticed the look April suddenly gave you from the corner of your eye. “But..! I’m fine, really. It’s just—a lot to get used to. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.” You paused for a second. “I’m fine.”

“(Y/n), I—”

Before April could continue, a loud, metal clang echoed through the theme park. You both suddenly jerked your head towards the direction of the sound, then nervously back at each other.

“What was..”

“I dunno..” April quickly answered, “Probably Sunita and Casey..”

“Should we go.. check on them..?” You asked, biting on your bottom lip some.

April slowly slid off her aluminum horse-bear. “Yeah.. we should probably get out of here soon anyway.”

You followed suit, stepping off the carousel platform as towards the directions of the loud noise, anxiety squirming around in your stomach.

“It sounded like it came from the mirror maze..,” April pointed, as you walked to the large show building. The outside was decorated with classic Albearto characters and a large sign with the attraction’s name. You walked up the steps, hovering in front of the entrance of the mirror maze. 

“..I don’t see anything that could’ve caused that noise.. are you sure it was over here..?” You asked, looking over at April.

“I.. I thought so..? I mean.. I was sure it was around here.. that’s what it sounded like..” she pressed her hand to her head, shaking it a bit. “I-I dunno..” 

You shared a nervous glance with April, before she quickly looked around and noticed a loose wooden plank from the boardwalk. She quickly snatched it up and held it up defensively like a baseball bat.

“Just—just in case.”

You grimaced a bit but nodded, taking out your flashlight and shining it into the maze. With the park without power, the normal atmospheric lights that’d illuminate the mirror maze were absent, leaving just a pitch black room with thousands of reflective surfaces. 

You shined your light on all the mirrors, making it slightly easier to determine a route, though you both had your fair share of ramming your noses into the glass. You walked silently side by side, flashlight extended out in front of you and wooden plank held at the ready as you both crept through the maze.

“Should.. should we call the girls..?” You asked, looking back at the outline of April’s figure. 

“..Hold on a sec, it’s probably just an opossum or a rat or something,” she waved you off, though she did not sound all that sure. “Let’s just keep going..”

And so you did, taking it slow and quiet. Sounds whispered in the air and you felt like you were being watched. But you carried on—at least, until your flashlight started flickering, before ultimately, darkness consumed you both once again.

“The fuck..?? I just put new batteries in tonight..!” You hissed, lightly hitting your hand against it, “Damn busted thing..”

After a brief moment of a pure, black void, the light flashed back down, illuminating the floor. You grinned over your shoulder back at April, before turning back around and lifting up your flashlight, only to see a sudden flash of purple in front of you.

“WOAH MY GOD!!” You jumped back, latching onto April in fear as you looked at the sudden, new figures in front of you. You blinked, pausing for a moment as you slowly recognized the streakily dyed lilac hair. 

“K..Kendra??” 

Chapter Text

“K..Kendra??”

You choked, shining your light more on the girl and her posse of Purple Dragons.

“Jesus!! Get that light out of my eyes, you dumbass! I’m not going blind tonight because of you!” She hissed, holding her hands out in front of her eyes.

“Shit..! Uh, sorry..” you muttered, lowering the light a bit, before April firmly gripped your shoulder and yanked you back behind her.

“What are you doing here, Kendra?” She questioned, glaring back at the girl. 

“That’s none of your business, O’Neil,” She snipped back, glaring between the both of you before raising a brow. “So I guess you two are hanging out now?” She asked, raising a judgemental brow.

“Uhm, yeah..” you said meekly, feeling so small under her gaze for that short few seconds. Her eyes lingered on you when you answered, before she continued to chew on the piece of gum that was in her mouth, nodding her head.

“Mm.. Makes sense that the two social rejects would be friends,” She said coolly, looking down at her hand for a moment, picking at her nails.

April let out a light scoff, rolling her eyes as she grabbed your sleeve. 

“Whatever, Kendra. C’mon (Y/n), I don't think Casey or Sunita are here,” She said, trying to not-so-subtly lead you back the way you both came from—away from Kendra and the Dragons. This made Kendra’s smirk falter, a look of confusion flashing across her face.

“Wait, you’re.. you’re going back out there?” She asked, looking at you with slight disbelief.

“Uhm.. yes..?” April said, narrowing her gaze at Kendra. “Why..?”

“Wha—you mean you didn’t see it?” She asked, her shoulder slumping a bit as she raised a brow.

“See.. what?” You responded, folding your arms over your chest.

“Uh—maybe that giant freaking monster outside..!” Jason cut in, making Kendra snap her head towards him.

“Shut it, Jason,” She hissed, making him cower back behind her, before she looked back at you both, “He’s exaggerating. It’s just like—a big animal or something. We came here to hide out until it left—but then someone—” she glared at Jason again, “Got us lost. Why did you think we were in here? It’s not ‘cause we wanna keep running into our own reflections every five seconds.” She scoffed a bit at the notion.

“It’s just.. weird that some big wild animal would just be here in some abandoned amusement park, don’t you think?” April asked, glancing around herself cautiously, her eyes momentarily meeting your gaze. You felt more uneasy.

“I guess.” Kendra shrugged, “I mean, this place has been left to rot for a few months now. Makes sense that it would be infested with like rodents or something—I just didn’t except to see a giant fucking—”

A small clonk echoed through the maze, just behind Kendra.

“Ow—”

“Fucking.. —Suck it UP, JEREMY,” She snapped, jerking her head back behind her to the other Purple Dragon, who froze instantly when meeting her gaze, his hands holding his nose after bumping into one of the mirrors. After a brief moment, she then turned back to you and April, taking a deep breath. “It's just been a lot of that for the past two hours..” She huffed, shaking her head.

You stared at the Purple Dragons for a moment, furrowing your brows. 

You glanced at April cautiously—your stomach churning in a way all too familiar. April gave you a look that told you she felt the same way.

After a second of silence, Kendra huffed, “But—whatever. If it’s not out there then I guess it got bored and left.” She stopped, turning to her fellow Purple Dragons and gestured with the wave of her hand for them to follow her. “Let’s just bounce. We got what we came for anyway.” she said to them with that commanding, in-charge voice she’s always had as she abruptly shouldered past you, walking where you and April had come from. 

“Wh—where are you going??” April gawked, watching as the Purple Dragons made their leave while you stood there baffled by how quickly they brushed it off—a dangerous, rampant, mutant (though they most likely weren’t aware of that part) animal in an amusement park, in New York. 

“Anywhere but here,” Kendra threw back over her shoulder, “You coming or what?”

You and April paused, glancing at one another.

It was silent, as Jason used the flashlight from his phone to guide the way while you maneuvered through the mirrors and reflections. You grimaced, but remained quiet as you followed behind the Purple Dragons to what was eventually the entrance, Jason’s phone light illuminating the doorway, adding almost an angelic glow to it. Freedom at last.

You stepped out into the open, a nice, cool night breeze blowing over you as you looked around. It was still incredibly dark outside—even the moon was doing very little to light the abandoned theme park—so you flicked your flashlight back on (making sure not to shine it into anyone’s eyes this time) to help light up the area.

Your mind suddenly became aware of every small noise and shadow, every eerie creak of the wooden dock beneath your feet, the small nighttime breeze that tickled your skin. A familiar sense of dread filled your stomach. This was very quickly becoming a nightly occurrence, you realized.

“Well, as fun as it was seeing you two losers, we’re gonna bounce before that thing shows back up again,” Kendra said, chewing on the piece of gum in her mouth, her hands shoved into the pockets of her purple jacket. She turned with the rest of her posse, tossing a small wave over her shoulder. “Good luck on not dying or whatever,” she added offhandedly. 

“Tsk,” April scoffed under her breath, crossing her arms, “Gee, thanks.” She spat out sarcastically, turning to walk the other way before you swiftly grabbed her sleeve.

“Hold—hold on..!” You said quickly, making all teenagers turn to look back at you. “May.. maybe we should all.. stick together..? at least until we get out of here.”

“What?” Kendra raised a brow.

“Yeah, what??” April glared at you like you were deranged.

“I mean—logically speaking,” you said awkwardly, searching for a reason to justify your statement. “The three of you couldn’t face it on your own before, right? What makes you think you could now? We have a better chance if we stick together—strength in numbers, and all that jazz.”

Everyone was silent, with April still staring at you, before Kendra let out a long exhale.

“As much as I hate the idea.. you’re not wrong,” she huffed out, crossing her arms as April’s jaw dropped a bit. “But as soon as we get out of this god forsaken park, we’re going our separate ways.”

“Fine by me,” you agreed, nodding your head before looking at April. “Can you text the girls to just meet us at the entrance?”

She looks at you for a long moment before sighing and nodding, pulling out her phone to text the others. “Yeah.. sure,” she grumbled lightly as you began walking together in a small group.

You walked beside April as she shot a quick text and stuffed her phone back into her pocket. She grimaced beside you, clearly not happy about this situation, not that you could totally blame her. 

“I can’t believe we’re saving these assholes..” she muttered, making you turn to her. 

“I thought your whole thing was saving people and being heroes and stuff?” You asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean—it is..! But like— innocent people. And the Purple Dragons are far from innocent.” She says, before looking at you. “The real question is: why do you wanna help them? They are literally the worst.”

This was a great question. Why did you want to help them so badly?

You hesitated for a second before shrugging your shoulders. “I dunno.. can’t it just be because it’s the right thing to do?”

“Well, you’re a better person than I am..” she admits, grimacing as she glared harshly at the Purple Dragons. 

You opened your mouth to say something, but were interrupted by two distinct screams.

“RETREEEEEAT!!” A familiar voice called from a distance, as two figures ran out into the open, sprinting in your direction. Not far behind who turned out to be Sunita and Casey was a large, angry fucking black panther, with sharp claws and teeth, bright yellow eyes, and pitch dark fur.

Ah yes, the ‘big cat.’

“Oh, come on—!” you exasperated, before April grabbed you by the arm and started running in the opposite direction.

The rickety, wooden boardwalk shook under the panther’s powerful weight, the violent thumping of its paws against the ground making your head throb.

As you ran next to April, Casey, Sunita, and the Purple Dragons, small flashes of last night—of everything—kept appearing into your mind, the familiar panic swarming your thoughts and filling your chest up with a tight pressure.

Your vision tunneled, with your eyes focusing on April who was trying to lead you all away to safety, blood pounding in your ears, making it impossible to hear anything besides your own heavy breathing. You only snapped out of it when you heard a loud scream.

“Kendra—!” Jason yelled out. Apparently, the Purple Dragons must’ve been struggling to catch up to the rest of you, with Kendra trailing along—leading the mutant bear to catch up to her. Using its large paw, it swiped at her, sending her flying and crashing into one of the old carny stands.

You felt your feet stop moving, watching in horror as her body crashed against the front of it, the back of her head hitting against the edge of the small counter. Your heart lurched into your throat, and automatically you found yourself running to her side, despite April’s calls to you.

The beast turned its attention to Jason, knocking him violently to the ground and looking like it was just about ready to take care of Jeremy, when Casey rushed in with her weapon, with Sunita scrambling to help Jason.

But you didn’t notice any of this, too focused on the lilac haired girl in front of you now.

“Kendra.?” You asked, hovering close to her, unsure just what to do.

“Uuughhh…” she groaned out, her eyes peeling open slightly as she rubbed the base of her neck, suddenly wincing when she does. “Fuck! The hell..??” She cursed, pain flashing in her gaze.

“Shit..! Are you okay?” you asked cautiously, putting a hand on her shoulder while trying to help her stand. 

Almost as soon as you did, she quickly shrugged your hand away, scowling at you. 

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, “I don’t need your help.”

You stared at her in slight surprise, pulling your hand back. 

“Sorry—”

Before you could get any more out, a voice from the distance screeched out to you, popping the small, tense bubble you and Kendra were trapped in.

“LOOK OUT—”

You turned your head just in time to see the mutant charging right for you both, only for Kendra to leap at you, knocking the two of you back to the ground and out of the way. The panther crashed through the stand, ultimately destroying it as it laid under the rubble.

You fought to catch the breath that had been knocked out of your lungs, still processing that Kendra had just kinda saved your life. But then you noticed how the mutant began to pull itself from the collapsed crany stand and you knew you needed to start hauling ass. You scrambled to your feet, but stopped when you saw Kendra struggling to stand up again. She was clutching her side, and alarm bells rang through your head when you saw a glimpse of red under her hand.

It only took a second before you were at her side, throwing her arm over your shoulder as you both ran back towards the others. You had to get her out of here, away from that thing. There was no way she could hold up against it by herself, not in this state.

“Y/n! Shit, are you two okay?” April asked, running up to meet you both, the other following.

“Yeah... But Kendra—” 

“I’m fine,” Kendra hissed out beside you, though the way she leaned into you for support said otherwise. She clutched her side still, wincing in sharp pain.

You went to quickly retort, before suddenly the cracking of wood caught your attention. You jerked your head over your shoulder, still holding Kendra up while you watched as the panther pulled itself from the destroyed carny stand. 

“Shit,” You heard someone say. You couldn’t help but agree as you looked down at Kendra. Seeing the pain on her face made your whole world stop. You immediately continued how out of it she was and quickly hoisted her into your arms, carrying her. You started to leave the scene, trying to get Kendra to safety as your mind began to panic at the sight of red staining her shirt.

“(Y/N)??” April’s voice had cut through the chaos in your head, quickly freezing your feet to where they were. You hadn’t even realized you were running past her until she pulled you from your frantic thoughts. You turned back to face her, clutching Kendra close to your chest.

 “Where are you—” She stopped, noticing the injured Kendra in your arms. Her eyes went wide for a moment, before her eyes snapped to you.

“Oh shit—”

“I know. I’m gonna get her somewhere safe. Hold it off until I get back,” you said in a thick voice, so many loud, fearful thoughts pounding in your head. 

“Right,” April nodded, before turning to help the others. You watched as Casey managed to get on the mutant’s back and started wacking it repeatedly with her naginata, letting out angry blood cries.

Jesus.

Your attention turned back to Kendra as she winced in your arms, gritting her teeth in pain.

“Fuck,” you hissed through your teeth, quickly turning and running away from the scene, the noise of the fight echoing behind you.

You zeroed in on the view in front of you, your eyes frantically searching for a safe place to set Kendra down. You heard she let out a shaky breath and noticed her looking up at you from the corner of your eyes.

“I don’t.. need your help,” she weakly spat out.

“Well, suck it up,” you shot back. “I’m helping.”

You ended up heading towards the Albearto themed zero gravity ride you happened to have seen earlier that night. You carried Kendra inside and took her to one of the rider chambers, letting her rest on the ground as you sat her up against the wall. 

You gasped for breath, heart pounding violently in your chest (you really need to start running more— Jesus..) before leaning against the railing that surrounded the center of the metal platform. You then quickly shrugged off your heavy backpack full of scrap metal and parts—that you’ve somehow managed to carry this whole time—and began digging through your stupidly heavy bag. 

“Oh, fuck me..” Kendra cursed under her breath, glaring at you like you were the devil.

“Trust me, I don’t wanna be here doing this either,”  you grunted, pulling out a few first aid supplies that you’d shoved in there before heading out tonight. (After your little adventure the other night with Donnie, you weren’t chancing it.) You supposed this was a benefit of having an aunt who’s a doctor—you constantly had a bunch of medical supplies around the apartment. “But oh well. Now take off your jacket.”

Begrudgingly, she pulled off her purple jacket, tossing it to the side. You paused a bit when your eyes caught on the claw marks that cut through her shirt, now stained with her own blood.

“Shit.. can you try lifting up your shirt a bit..?” You asked, to which she nodded and lifted it up just enough for you to reach the wound. The mutant’s claws obviously had broken the skin on her side, leaving long, harsh scratches. 

“..Thanks..” You managed out, struggling not to react to the damage.

You started patching up her side, working carefully as you both sat in tense awkward silence. Luckily, she hadn’t been bleeding too much now that you were applying pressure to the wound—God willing that the scratches weren’t very deep. You had to use Kendra’s discarded jacket to help clean up the wound and stop the bleeding (much to her chagrin), but thankfully things were beginning to look better once you did. 

After a nerve wracking silence, she finally spoke up as you prepared to bandage up her side.

“So.. you and O’Neil are friends now, huh?” She asks, leaning her head back against the wall weakly. 

“Maybe,” you shrugged, keeping your gaze down towards your work, “What’s it to you? Last time I checked, you—quote—couldn’t give a flying fuck about a sad piece of shit like me.” 

Kendra was silent again for a moment before scoffing and rolling her eyes. “Oh, come on..! I was just pissed off, you know I didn't mean that..”

“Is that why you never apologized then?” You fired back, looking back into her eyes with a hard expression. She went quiet, averting her gaze to the ground.

“She doesn’t know, does she?” Kendra asked, looking back at you again.

“Know.. what,” you narrowed your eyes at her.

“You know what,” she says, slumping more against the wall.

You hesitated, before speaking. 

“You’re going to have to be specific. There’s a lot I have told her yet,” you said offhandedly, going back to wrapping up her side.

“Why? You certainly didn’t have an issue bringing it up before,” she snarks, rolling her eyes with a frown. You grimaced, roughly tightening the bandages around her side and making her wince.

“Oh, so blame me for trying to find some comfort from my only friends! God forbid I ask you guys to give me some support,” you grunted out, looking her right in the eyes as she refused to meet your gaze. 

“Oh c’mon! Are you really still holding all of that against us??” She scoffed, finally making eye contact with you. “You know I didn’t ever mean it like that. You just—you would not shut up about it..! And you were just—so depressing.”

“Jee! Thanks.” You grumbled, flicking your sharp gaze back to her. “The moment I needed you guys most, you turned your backs on me because I was depressing! Some fucking friends you are!!” You let out a sarcastic, bitter laugh.

“God! You’re taking this too personally! I just wanted you to—to be like you used to! Y’know, the good old fun (y/n)—not.. whatever loser sad sack you turned into.” She said, weakly gesturing her hand towards you as she made her point.

You stared at her in utter disbelief before you scoffed quietly. “Unbelievable…” you muttered. 

“Look, I was just trying to help, okay?” She said, looking off to the side. “You act like I’m a monster for just trying to make you less sad!”

“You were trying to–” You cutted yourself off. It wasn't worth it. None of this was worth it. You let out a small sigh. “Can’t believe I was stupid enough to still kinda care about you guys..” You muttered under your breath, not noticing the way Kendra’s face dropped into a small look.

“I…—” Kendra trailed off, when a loud roar echoed through the air, the ground shaking slightly. Your brows raised as you looked back at Kendra. She met your gaze, pulling herself up before you both rushed out of the ride. You ran through the docks, tracing your steps back to where you had left the others, Kendra holding her side the whole time.

“Holy shit—” you swore, watching as Casey, Sunita, and April all bombarded the panther with attacks, while Jeremy and Hason cowered in fear to the side. As the mutant roared out in anger, it successfully hit April and Sunita away, but before it could attack Casey, the girl reached into her pocket and threw down a small smoke bomb, clouding the area around it.

Once the smoke cleared, the panther shook its head, reopening its eyes and glancing around, finding itself alone in the surrounding area. But after only a moment, it turned its head to an old, abandoned hotdog cart. You watched in horror as it instantly zeroed in on the cart, narrowing its sharp, glowing glare as charging at it, knocking it away with its large paw to reveal Casey from her hiding spot, towering over her. 

“What the hell..??” Kendra muttered under her breath, her eyes wide, as Casey thankfully quickly defended herself with her naginata. “How did it— I didn’t even see where she went, how did IT see her??”

“Oooooooh godddddd…” you groaned out, the sick feeling returning to your stomach. You knew immediately how it did that. The same reason the badger mutant was able to disappear into thin air. Mutant powers. 

And this mutant? Super x-ray vision.

The panther knocked Casey away and turned around, its eyes glowing yellow and immediately pinpointing Jeremy and Jason in the darkness. It snarled out, towering over the boys with its glinting stare. The looks on their faces—it was enough to tell you they were shitting themselves. 

You heard Kendra suck in a small breath, watching as the panther mutant looked like it was just fixing to bite both of their heads off. 

Despite every natural instinct erging you to run away from the scene—to hide and get to safety, you found your legs rushing you in. Your brain was screaming at you, calling you the dumbest idiot to ever live. Were you trying to get yourself killed at this point? Haven’t you learned your lesson yet? 

No, apparently—because you soon found yourself shrugging off your heavy backpack and yeeting it as hard as your scrawny little arms could at the mutant. The scrap filled bag crashed into its side, immediately making it snap its head towards your direction, zeroing in on you, and you alone.

Yelp. That was probably a dumb move.

You stared back at the mutant in anxious fear, your legs deciding to quit working—right when you needed them. You looked into the mutant’s dark, empty gaze, initiating a small, terrifying staring contest. You gulped, as it let out low growls with each terrifying breath, slowly inching towards you.

“Uuuh… hi…. Buddy..”

…Did you really just call this thing ‘buddy’?

You watched as the mutant crouched down, like it was preparing to pounce at you. 

“.. I’m.. guessing you aren’t a fan of that one..” you muttered back, slowly taking a step back. “So ‘buddy’ is off the table.. What about ‘pal’? ‘Champ’? …‘Amigo’?”

The bear didn’t have a reaction to any of your charming nicknames, only glaring two dark holes into your soul.

“…you kinda give off ‘amigo’ vibes—”

Oh my god, (Y/n). Stop.

Then, after a minute of your impromptu staring contest, the monster leaped forward.

“OH SHIT!” You screamed out, as any normal teenager who wasn’t ready to get jumped by a giant fucking cat would do.

Without a real weapon to defend yourself, you reached for your flashlight from your back pocket (which miraculously had not fallen out yet) and pointed the puny little thing at the beast, your finger instinctively flicking the light on—shining it right in the mutant’s eyes. Oops.

But.. also not really? Because immediately the light stunned the panther, making it falter and backed away. You turned your gaze back and forth, shifting between the flashlight and the mutant. It bared its sharp teeth violently, though it didn’t make a single move towards you.

“Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaat,” you muttered, flashing the light more into its eyes, making the mutant squeeze its eyes shut to avoid being blinded. “Weird.”

“Y/n!!” Someone yelled behind you—you glanced over your shoulder to see April, helo Sunita to her feet. “What did you do to it?!”

“I don’t know!!” You yelled back, turning to keep your eyes on the mutant. “I just shined my flashlight at it!! I don’t think it likes light!”

Nervously, you took a step forward, still shining the light on the mutant, watching as it quickly backed away again. Your hypothesis stood correct. Donnie would be proud.

“Huh.” You huffed out, clicking your tongue. “Weeeeeeiiiiiirrrrrrrrdddd,” you reiterated.

The mutant growled in annoyance, quickly making you jump away from it. Right, still a very deadly mutant animal. Just because you have the power of the light bulb doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have the power of eating you whole.

“Are you just gonna stand there oooooor..” April yelled back at you again.

You went to answer when the light to your flashlight started to flicker.

“Uhhhhhhh—” you drawled out, before your light finally went dark, going dead right in your hand. “Shit.”

You were pulled back to the mutant in front of you as it glared at you with its sharp, yellow eyes, bearing its teeth and growling lowly. Oh. Ooooh-ho-ho-ho. This thing was pissed.

So you did the only thing you could think of.

“FORGIVE ME, BAGHEERA,” you yelled out, chucking your flashlight right into the panther’s face before picking up your heavy bag and absolutely booking it over to the others. “RUN!” you screeched out, making the others quickly follow—with Jeremy scooping up Kendra and tossing her onto his shoulder.

The mutant staggered and shook its head, recovering from the yeeted hunk of plastic and releasing a short yowl in anger from behind you all.

“HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT—” April panted as you all raced down the pier. 

“WHAT DO WE DO??” Jason yelped.

“DON’T STOP RUNNING!” Casey telled back.

“DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK YOU CAN OUTRUN A PANTHER??” Kendra hissed from over Jeremy’s shoulder.

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT CASEY IS CAPABLE OF..” Sunita answered back.

“GUUUYYYYSS! PLAN! WE NEED A PLAN, REMEMBER??” Sunita screamed, as you all sharply turned the corner around the old Albearto themed scrambler ride. From the corner of your eye, you could see the mutant giving chase.

Plan. Planplanplanplanplan. Come on, (L/n), use that dumb dumb brain we all know and love, and think of something forChristsake—

Like God had answered your prayers, you looked up, noticing the absurdly tall LED light poles that were scattered throughout the theme park. You could literally feel the gears turning in your head.

“April!” you yelled, running beside her, “You remember the—”

“The carousel? Yes!!” She responded quickly, “Did you see—”

“It’s weird super x-ray eyes?? Yeah!”

“YES. (Y/n), are we sharing a brain right now??” April gasped.

“I think so—!!”

“GUYS.” Sunita shouted into the air as you ran.

“Right,” you panted, your side aching and begging to collapse. “We need to get the power back on somehow.”

“That’s a tall order!” Jeremy said back. “You think this place can manage that?”

“We got the carousel to turn back on for a few minutes!” You explained before whipping back to April, “What do you think is the brightest ride here??”

“The ferris wheel for sure! You could see from ten blocks away when that thing’s lights were on,” She responded as you all ran.

“Perfect!” 

With your lungs feeling like they were on the verge of dying, you all ran towards the Ferris wheel. You moved your legs as fast at you could to keep up with everyone as you sprinted to the base of the ride.

“It should be at the control panel!!” April pointed towards the operation box for employees to man the Ferris wheel, left abandoned to rot. A loud yowl echoed from the distance as you all looked back to the mutant panther charging at you.

“GOGOGOGO—”

You all moved to the control box, with you and April jumping over the small pathetic railing to keep park attendees out. You quickly scanned the panel and could the power switch. Faster than the speed of light, you flicked the switch and looked up at the Ferris wheel in desperation. Only you felt your gut drop to the floor when the lights never switched on.

“Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck,” you cursed, repeatedly flicking the switch on and off. “FUCK.”

“It’s not working!” April yelled towards the only, attempting to flick on a few of the other switches, but nothing happened.

“Now what?!” Sunita asked, looking back just as the panther began to get uncontrollably close. 

“I—I..” you stammered out, your gaze flickering around everyone before suddenly, Kendra—who was now back on the ground and leaning against Jeremy for support—pushed away from him.

“Move aside..! Jeremy, Jason, help me out here,” she barked out, just barely able to leap over the short, fenced gate as she pushed you to the side. You and April backed away, moving out of the way for the Purple Dragons. “We’ve got it here. You four distract the panther thing.”

You watched as they huddled around the control box, crouching down and pulling off the front of it to reveal the wiring from the inside. They quickly got to work, almost acting as if you weren’t there.

“..C’mon! You heard her,” Casey said, gesturing to you all with her weapon as you turned your attention back to the panther. You swallowed thickly, watching as Casey, Sunita, and April raced off again like it was nothing. You felt your legs lock up from under you as you watched them so readily go back into battle. 

You glanced back over towards the Purple Dragons, listening to them quietly bicker to each other, before you looked back towards the girls again. You don’t know how it happened, but your feet had broken free from your brain’s control and started moving on their own, catching up to the girls

What happened next was a bit of a blur. 

You remember running in, but the rest was hard to recall. You could just remember how fast everything moved. The blood rushing through your ears. The adrenaline pumping through your veins. 

Is this what these guys felt every time they fought? Did they feel this same, intense feeling in their chest, that was only released when they swung their weapon? You weren’t sure. But in that same moment, you didn’t really care. 

It just felt good to finally hit something for once after all the stress you’ve been under these past few months.

Though you’ll never know how you ended up on top of its back.

“ GGGUUUUUYYYYSSSSS!!!” You cried out as the panther tried to pick you off. You had your arms wrapped around its neck, holding on to each end the piece of metal to stay on. “I'M GOING TO VOMIT.”

“JUST THINK OF IT AS ONE OF THOSE BULL RIDES!” Sunita offered encouragement.

“I HATE THOSE THINGS.”

“OOPS..—”

“GET ME OFF THIS RIDE. I WILL HURL.”

“AIM AT ITS EYES!!!” Casey so helpfully added.

“NOTED!!” You sarcastically yelled back

April watched you with concern, not that you were able to see because your field of vision was literally just black fur and blurry shit, before she glanced back towards the control box. “Please tell me you guys are nearly done?!?”

“You can’t rush perfection, O’Neil!!”

“Well I can certain rush my foot up your a—”

“Okay, okay!! We’re almost done!!!” Jason jumped in. 

“YOU BETTER BE!!” You found yourself screeching out as the world whipped around you, your gut churning in a horrible fashion. “OTHERWISE I'M GOING TO WRING OUT YOUR STUPID, SKINNY NE—“

And just like that, bright, shining lights blinded your eyes, as the whole Ferris wheel came to life, the ride creaking slightly as it slowly began to turn and the lights began to blink in synchronization. You squeezed your eyes shut, burying your face in the panther’s black fur.

“Got it!”

You then felt the panther stop writhing around from under you, its body stiff and tense as it let out a soft hiss. Slowly, you lifted your head back as it whipped its head away from the bright lights. You stared at the ride for a moment, silently admiring the oddly beautiful scene before you felt the mutant buck you off of its back, sending you flying. 

You felt your back collided with the side of an only run down food stand, falling to the wooden pier with a small ‘oof’. Pain burned your back as you weakly tried to push yourself up, your arms shaking from under you as you watched the panther run off, finally leaving you all alone.

Thank god.

“(Y/N)!!” 

You heard a few voices call out to you, and found three figures surrounding you and helping you up.

“I’m fine, I’m good,” you coughed out to the girls as April and Sunita each slung one of your arms around their shoulders.

“That was amazing, (Y/n), you’re a champ,” April encouraged you as you gave her a sheepish grin.

“No big deal. I’m just glad it finally left,” you sighed in relief, the adrenaline slowly flowing out of your system. You winced, suddenly becoming aware of all your minor and major injuries. “Ah..! Fuck. I’m okay, I’m okay..” you muttered, dismissing their looks of concern as the Purple Dragons all approached you.

“I think a couple of thank you’s are in order,” Kendra said with her nose in the air, a smug expression on her face.

April glared at her. “Same here, since we’re literally the ones who saved your scrawny, nerd ass—”

“Thank you, guys,” you interrupted, ignoring the look April gave you as you looked Kendra in the eyes. “Appreciate the help.”

Kendra looked into your gaze for a moment, thoughts swirling behind her eyes before she turned away with a small huff and crossed her arms.

“Whatever.. let’s just.. get out of here, yeah? I think I’m over this place,” she said offhandedly, “Any of you happen to know where the exit is?”

“Yeah, yeah..” April mumbled slowly, “it’s this way, I’m pretty sure.” She faintly gestured with her head, before leading the way, still supporting one of your arms.

You’ve saved a bleeding turtle mutant from dying out in the alleyway garbage. You snuck into a giant spider lady’s fancy party. You nearly got your leg destroyed by a giant badger. You lied to your aunt about where you’re going out to each night. 

And now you rode the back of one stupidly big, black cat. 

Maybe you were better at this hero stuff than you thought.

“AND THEN (Y/N) RODE ITS BACK LIKE IT WAS A BULL, BEFORE THEY WERE FLUNG OFF IT LIKE A LITTLE RAGDOLL!!” Sunita excitedly retold the events as you all sat in the projection room, while Mikey, Leo, and Raph helped patch you all up.

You winced softly as Mikey put another Marvel themed bandaid on your arm. You got Hulk this time. “Wow. Please stop, or you’ll make me sound too cool..” you grumbled sarcastically, chuckling softly.

“Don’t worry, (Y/n), you’ll always be a loser in our eyes,” Leo joked as he walked into the room with several ice packs, earning a punch in the arm from April. “Kidding..! Kidding,” he whispered with a small grin, offering her an ice pack for the bruise on her side.

“Oh yeah! And it had this weird X-ray vision! So I guess this means these new mutants have powers too,” April shrugged, holding the ice pack under her shirt.

“Really?” Leo asked her, looking genuinely surprised, before he scowled, “C’mon man, how come it's when we’re not there to kick mutant ass that they magically get power ups??” He scoffed, waving his hands dramatically in the air. “First (Y/n) and Donnie’s night on the town, now this!”

“Well, in any case, glad you guys are okay,” Raph said, gently forcing Sunita to sit back down while he took care of the scratches on her arm. “But why didn’t you call or somethin’? You know we would’ve come down there to help you.”

“Unless you wanted the Purple Dragons to see a couple of giant turtles fight a giant cat, then you should be thanking us for leaving you out of it,” April shrugged, as Mikey helped press an ice pack to your sore back, making you hiss softly at the chilling contact. “But it’s cool, we handled it pretty well, I think.”

“Why were you guys down there anyway?” Leo asked, sitting down next to Casey, who swiped the last ice pack.

“Grabbing some spare parts for the Bug Slapper,” you answered, before standing up with a small groan. “Speaking of, I should bring what we got to him. He’s in his lab, right?”

“Yeah, he’s kinda holed himself in there since he got back last night. We’ve been trying to give him space and stuff—we kinda got the impression that it was.. Not a fun night for you guys.” Mikey said, as quiet looks spread across the room. You felt uncomfortable in your own skin, really trying not to let last night get to you again. 

“I mean..” You started to say, your voice threatening to give out. “It was just—unexpected..” 

Silence filled the projection room for a few moments before Raph spoke up.

“You want me to help carry those bags, (Y/n)? They look heavy,” Raph offered, subtly changing the subject while gesturing to the three backpacks and a whole ass duffle bag full of heavy scrap metal. 

“Please? My back can only take so much in one night,” you joked weakly, as he walked over, easily grabbing two of the backpacks and the duffle, leaving you with your own backpack. You managed to carry your bag to Donnie’s lab pretty easily without much strain on your back, dumping it down near the entrance.

“Thanks, big guy. I’ve got it from here,” you said as he set down all the girls’ bags. He gave you a snaggle toothed smile and a thumbs up before leaving, making you turn back towards the door of Donnie’s lab. 

You gave it a firm knock, your knuckles hitting against the metal door, but when you received no response, you pressed your ear to it. Inside you could hear loud techno music blaring through the door, making you furrow your brows a bit.

“Donnie?!” You called, but again were met with no answer. You sighed, looking around the door and noticing the small touch screen next to it. Having seen Donnie open the door with it before, you decided to give it a go.

“Please place hand on the touchpad,” A robotic, Donnie-like voice sounded from the panel, nearly making you flinch back. You paused for a moment before pressing the palm of your hand up against the screen. You watched as a small, red bar on the screen scanned your hand, before it and additional lights on the panel flickered green. “Access granted.”

The two doors pulled apart, revealing the dimly lit lab. 

“Huh.. that worked..” You mumbled, genuinely surprised as you stepped inside. Techno music blared in your ears as you turned to the bags of scrap. You sighed, grabbing the straps of all the bags and beginning to drag them all against the floor, using all the strength you had to get them inside the lab. Centimeter by centimeter, you struggled for several moments before a voice spoke behind you.

“YO, (Y/N) DUDE! Good seeing you!!” The small drone, S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. yelled over the techno, making you jump in your skin and nearly fall over.

“S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.! Hi!” You greeted back with a pleasant smile. How did someone so grumpy make such a happy little robot—you had to wonder.

“Need help with those, dude?!”

“Yes please!!”

A small claw extends from the drone, easily grabbing all of the bags and carrying them further into the lab.

“Pops is just back here working on something!!”

“What??” you called, unable to hear what S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. was saying.

“Oh! One second.”

“WHAT??”

The loud. Blaring techno music suddenly turned down, relieving your poor, poor eardrums. 

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. lead you towards Donnie’s desk just as the mutant started calling out to him, his battle shell facing you.

“S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.!! Din you turn down my—” He spun around in his swivel chair, his ticked off expression immediately faltering at the sight of you.

“Yo pops! Sorry, but (Y/n) stopped by! Nice, right??” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. responded, his little drone system whirring quietly.

“Plus, I come bearing gifts,” You chuckled, gesturing to the bags of scrap as S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s little claw dropped them to the ground. 

“Gifts..?” He raised a curious Sharpie eyebrow, rolling his chair closer to one of the bags, opening to find some of the scrap metal.

“Y’know, for the Bug Slapper—since we were never able to get any last night,” you explained, awkwardly rocking on the backs of your feet.

“Wha—” his gaze shot back up to yours, confused and surprise evident in his eyes. “You went to the repo yard?”

“Not exactly.. it’s a long story,” you shrugged. “But uhm.. Is this okay? I don’t really know what you consider ‘good junk’ so..”

He looked at you for a long time before his surprised expression softened a bit. “It’s good. Thank you, you really didn’t have to go through the trouble—I would've gone once my leg left a bit better.”

“I know, but.. Well, it’s hard to say no to any of April and Sunita’s plans..” you chuckled tiredly, rubbing the back of your neck. 

He huffed out a bit of a laugh before he turned to S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. “S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.? Would you mind fetching me another cup of coffee?” he asked his robot son, who let out a happy beep and zipped away. You watched him leave with fondness before you walked towards Donnie’s desk, taking a seat in a spare chair. Donnie turned back to his computer, pulling up his Spotify and turning the music back on in the lab—except this time, Wilco’s “Jesus Etc.” played in the background at a very low volume. He spun back to you, looking at you with curiosity. 

“So.. any particular reason you look like hell right now?”

“Mmm, might be from getting yeeted off a giant feline’s back,” You shrugged, making him stare at you in disbelief.

“What—”

“Again, long story. Don’t really want to go into it. The others will tell you later,” You sighed, taking a moment to bury your head in your hands. “Ran into some old peeps that kinda fucked me over too so, thats great.” 

“..Who are these so-called ‘old peeps’..? I’m asking out of pure curiosity and definitely not to find their IP addresses and dox them, nooooo definitely not..” He said, and you couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. You felt a little scared at this notion

“Ah, it—it's nothing, just this group at school. They call themselves the Purple—”

“THE PURPLE DRAGONS??” He hissed, his body tensing up like a cat. 

“Ah, I'm assuming April’s mentioned them?”

“Mentioned them?? I know them!! They tried to steal my tech from me on multiple occasions!” He clarified, scowling harshly at the mention of the teens.

“What?? Seriously?” You asked, before letting out a small huff, “Huh, figures.”

“Yeah, that syringa vulgaris haired devil tricked me with their beautiful, satin jackets..” He grumbled under his breath—you could’ve swore you saw him tearing up at the mention of these ‘beautiful, satin jackets’.

“Damn, so my ex screwed over me AND my friends.. Nice.” You huffed, slouching further into your chair.

Donnie halted, looking back at you with shock.

“I’m sorry.. Your whAT—”

“Don’t ask..” You let out a tired breath, rubbing your face. “It was a dark era in my life.”

“I just—I have to question your taste..” Donnie muttered, his face shriveling into a look of disgust.

“Hey! She’s my ex for a reason, dude!” you defended, crossing your arms a bit. “Besides.. She wasn’t always this bad.” You sighed, staring at a spot on the floor. “Just—don’t mention it to April, I think she’d wring my neck out.”

Donnie watched you for a moment before breathing out a small laugh, shaking his head in amusement. “Sure, my lips are sealed,” he said with a soft smirk, leaning back into his chair. He stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, silence settling between you both, when his eyes lit up with remembrance, quickly spinning around in his chair. “Oh, yes..! I nearly forgot, I have something for you, too.” He said off handedly, reaching over to something on his desk. “I’ve been quite a bit busy with this whole Beta Bug situation, as I’m sure you can assume, but I finally got around to finishing them.” He explained, before spinning back to you, tossing you a plastic baggy. You fumbled a bit, but managed to catch it, holding it to your chest in surprise before you slowly looked at it.

You froze.

Inside the bag were several thin pieces of plastic, resembling different star sharps.

“Did you buy me glow in the dark stars??” You chuckled, unable to stop yourself from laughing.

“Correction. I made them,” He said with a prideful smile—while you stared at him in disbelief.

“What—?”

“It took me a bit to get the prototype finished, but it was rather easy, admittedly. These babies should last a lifetime, if not longer—so you don’t have to worry about the fluorescent powder making them fade.” He said confidently, though you could barely focus on what he was saying.

“I—Wha—Why???” You stammered, caught off guard by this uncharacteristically  kind thing for him to do. 

“I dunno. I was bored,” He struggled his shoulders casually, "You said you ran out for your Ophiuchus constellation, right? Well, there you go." He said, spinning around to his computer, his back facing you again. “Now, as much as I enjoy astounding you once more with my brilliance and giving nature, it is a school night and you really ought to be going.” He said, before raising his finger up, adding something after. “Oh, and don't walk home. Have Leo make you a portal—I don't want you running into another mutant and dying, or whatever.”

Your jaw dropped expression quickly dissolved into a scowl, frowning at the back of his stupidly smart head. 

“Fiiiiiiine. Whatever, dad.” You scoffed, before grabbing your backpack, dumping out all his new scraps and bits, before slinging it over your shoulder. “See you later. Thanks for the stars.” You waved back to him, though you doubt he was paying attention as you went to leave his lab—before suddenly you stopped and did a double take.

“LEO CAN MAKE PORTALS???”

Chapter Text

You groaned, your back still aching from the enormous bruise that lingered on your skin, as you carried on with sweeping the floor. Despite it being a good few days after the Albeartoland incident, your body was still barely recovered from getting yeeted off the back of a giant panther. It was a struggle to get up in the mornings, and it hurt like hell to carry your backpack down the school hallways—but you couldn’t help but feel like it was all worth it when after a long day of suffering, you could fall back into your bed and stare at the newly completed Ophiuchus constellation on your ceiling. 

But right now, you absolutely were beginning to regret every choice you’d ever made.

It was a late shift at the roller rink, with you pushing the large broom around the rink floor, while April switched through each and every radio station on the cheap-ass, shitty radio your boss had recently installed until she found something she liked. Locking up truly was a combined effort, as you can see.

The shift had been long, and your back was literally killing you—but you enjoyed your time at the rink. Even though it took up your Saturday nights and you were always exhausted from school, you valued the nights you got to hang out with April. 

Of course, it wasn’t always completely the same as when Jeffery was here. You admittedly missed the guy, even if you weren’t that close, and you wished he hadn’t moved off to Jersey. But you knew it was probably for the best, there were a lot more people going missing nowadays, only adding to the pressure you were sure the others were feeling. 

You finished cleaning the rink floor, heaving a small breath as you pushed all the bits of dirt and trash into a large dustpan, taking it over to dump it in the trash. You pulled out the garbage bag and tied it off, trying not to shutter at the deja vu you got every single time you’ve taken out the trash. 

You still weren’t over the whole ‘David disappearing out of thin air’ thing, and that alleyway had some connection to it. To his potential death. You tried not to think about all the times you almost ended up like him from all these mutant run-ins, you tried not to think about how all these mutant run-ins used to be actual people, and you absolutely tried not to think about how much more likely it was that David was one of them instead of being dead.

…Maybe you should talk to Aunt Lynn about finding a therapist.

But thankfully, amid your traumatic train of thought, April snapped your attention back over towards her as she cheered, as ABBA played faintly from the radio.

“Finally!” She cried out with exasperation, collapsing over the small ‘Dee-Jay Booth’ (which had still managed not to be upgraded from the wobbly foldout table), as “Dancing Queen” played on throughout the speakers. “Now, this is music.”

“And it only took you five hundred channels to find it!” You chirped in, grinning sarcastically at her slightly while lifting the trash bag from its bin. She scowled.

“Fine, next time you try finding something that isn’t Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, or middle-aged white dudes on late-night talk stations” She retorted, making you snicker.

“Okay, okay.. I take it back. You worked very hard, thank you for your service to your country,” You relented, holding a hand up in surrender.

“Damn straight.”

You shook your head. “Let’s just hurry and get done, I’ve got some Chemistry homework with my name on it at home.”

“Don’t pretend like you actually intend on finishing that tonight,” April rolled her eyes at you while grabbing both of your backpacks. You gasped as you followed her out the backdoor. 

“How dare you! I’ll have you know I take my poorly curated education very seriously,” you retorted with pride, waiting for April to finish locking the back door while you tossed the trash bag in the alley dumpster.

This earned a snort from April, her nose scrunching up as she pulled her jacket more around herself as a small breeze blew over the both of you.

“Whatever, dude,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. “Was that it, then?” She asked, gesturing to the dumpster.

“Think so. You turned off the lights before you locked the door, right?” You asked.

“Yep, guess we’re good then,” She said, before pulling out her phone.  “I’ll text Leo to come pick us up now,” April said, before looking back up at you, “You haven’t had dinner yet, right?”

You suddenly became aware of the empty, hungry feeling in your stomach—oh yeah, shit that’s right... You completely forgot to eat.

“Uhm, no,” You answered, peering down the streets, waiting to see the.. What had Donnie called it? The Turtle Tank? Yeah, that. “Why?”

“Leo asked if we wanted to stop by this cool Yokai restaurant we go to sometimes,” April responded, looking down at her phone. A slight grin made its way across her face. “Alright! He said he’s getting us right now.”

You continued to look around, not spotting the large tank you’d once seen in the lair’s garage—or any other vehicle for that matter.

“...Where is he—”

Just as you were about to finish your query, your view of the street was blocked with a bright blue light filled your vision. Startled, you jumped back and blinked at the floaty, blue blob in front of you. You turned back to April with a look of pure fear, only to feel something grab your wrist. You looked down, seeing a green hand grip onto your arm and pull you through the blob.

“HOLY SHI–iiiiiiitttttt….” Almost as soon as you're pulled through the blob, you find yourself standing in another alleyway, standing before Leo with two, shining swords. His face curled into an amused smirk as he noticed your frightened expression, while you turned back to look at the floating blob, just as April appeared from it. “Wha.. what just happened..??”

“Oh yeeeaaahhh… you haven’t been through my portals before, have you?” Leo snickered, as you snapped your neck back towards him.

“No, you hissed through your teeth, still recovering from your life flashing before your eyes, “I haven’t.”

“Yeeerp! Pretty cool, right?” Leo bragged, resting one of his swords against his shoulder. He held a cocky expression before he glanced back at you. “I’m surprised you handled that as well as you did. Normally after your first time, you end up—”

You suddenly were hit with a wave of nausea and you crouched over, holding your head between your knees as you emptied out your stomach.

“—vomiting.. yep, there it is.”

You stood up, wiping off your mouth as a bitter taste remained.

“Fuck you..” you groaned, as April slipped off her bag and handed you a water bottle.

“Well.. good thing we’re about to go eat..?” She chuckled nervously as you took a small few sips of water and handed the bottle back to her.

You turned and stepped back towards the portal, cautiously sticking your arm into it. It made your hand feel tingly and like it was asleep. You pulled your hand back out, then back in again, then back out. Thankfully, you didn’t feel nauseous again.

“I’d say this was pretty cool if it didn’t just make me hurl.”

“Eh,” Leo shrugged, waving one of his swords a bit and making the portal cave in on itself and disappear as if it had never even been there. “You’ll get used to it.” He said calmly, before smiling back at you and April, “The guys are holding a table for us, ready to head in?”

“Wait, you said this was a Yokai place,” you interrupted, looking over at April, “Is it.. safe for us to go in?” You asked, gesturing to her and yourself.

“Oh yeah! Trust me, Señor Hueso’s chill with humans,” Leo waved you off, “I mean, technically he is human.. I guess… kind of-ish..” he shrugged, “I dunno—but since Run of the Mill isn’t technically a part of the main hidden city, they don’t really have to be as restricted as other parts. I think. Draxum explained it to us, but I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“Of course you weren’t,” April nudged his arm, before holding her arm out. “Now let’s hurry up and get inside, yeah?”

You looked outside of the alley onto the city streets, glancing at all the closed-down shops and restaurants. 

“Uuhm.. where exactly is it?” You asked, looking around the abandoned roads. 

Your friends grinned, as Leo approached the alley wall that was attached to a laundromat, immediately making you more confused. You and April followed as he stood in front of a piece of graffiti, making a sign with his hand.

“Okay, so I think he’s lost it—WOAH..” You started to mumble to April before a large, glowing hole appeared in the bricks. Another portal. Of course. 

“After you,” Leo gestured towards the lot of you, holding a shit-eating grin. 

You stared at him for a moment in disbelief before peering into the portal, and seeing the image of a restaurant on the other side, with the sign ‘Run of the Mill’ hanging over the entrance. You glanced at the others, who gave you encouraging hand gestures, before you sucked in a breath, squeezing your eyes shut as you walked through the blinding blue light.

It only took the strong whiff of pizza and the light, airy chattering to get you to peel open your eyes. You looked around the Yokai restaurant in awe, it looked like any old pizza joint, except the waiters and customers were all various types of creature, with no two Yokai looking the slightest bit alike. Realizing how only you and April were the only humans in the whole joint, you felt yourself growing increasingly more nervous, but once the different aromas of various types of food, you could feel your mouth already begin to water. Music played faintly around the restaurant, and you were surprised to find that you were familiar with the song, “Miss You”. You guessed that even Yokai were fans of The Rolling Stones.

After Leo stepped through the entrance, it closed up behind the three of you, effectively trapping you in the hidden restaurant. You all looked around, spotting a large, familiar three-fingered hand waving around in the air, flagging you over to a half-circle booth sequestered in the back of the restaurant. You all waved back to Raph, letting him know he’d been seen as you worked your way towards the booth, with Raph and Mikey sharing the inside, and Donnie hanging alone on the right side busy on his phone.

“Hey guys!” Raph greeted with a friendly snaggle-tooth smile that always put you at ease, as Leo slid into the empty left side of the booth, sitting on Raph’s left, with April quickly sitting down beside him. “How was your shift?” The larger mutant asked, as you sat down beside Donnie, who still hadn’t looked up from his phone. Heh, what an Ipad kid. 

“It was good,” you answered, crossing your arms over the table and casually slumping forward, “One dude tried to propose to his girlfriend while out on the rink. Ended up knocking three other people down during it.”

This earned a snort from Leo. “Who would propose at a roller skating rink?” 

“Did she say yes?” Donnie asked with a smirk, finally joining in on the conversation, despite still not looking away from his phone.

“What do you think?” April laughed, shaking her head slightly. “Oh, and tonight we broke our record of how many kids end up falling flat on their faces,” She added.

“Eighteen,” you nodded, fist-bumping April from across the table, “Best part of the job—besides, y’know, getting paid.”

“Even if it’s actually less than minimum wage,” April countered.

“True,” You tipped your head towards her.

You both shared a grin, failing to notice the Yokai that approached your table.

“So.. it seems you’ve made yourself comfortable bringing more humans here, ey pepino?” Asked a tall, skeleton man, dressed in a fine suit and hat. It took every ounce of your being not to flinch at the sight, because well—the man was a full-on skeleton. How else were you supposed to react?

“Aww, Hueso! How is my favorite boney guy???” Leo responded with his signature grin. “Have you met our newest member?” He asked, fully knowing you’ve never met this skeleton man before in your life. 

Leo then gestured his hand out towards you, immediately putting all attention on you. You couldn’t help but gulp at the mean glare Hueso sent your way, his empty eye sockets staring into your soul. You felt like God himself was judging you, as he weighed your sins.

“…Nice to meet you..?” You greeted, shakily offering your hand to shake, despite your sentence sounding more like a terrified question than anything else. “I—uhm, like your restaurant. Very.. restaurant-y.”

…Yeah. Because ‘restaurant-y’ is a word.

You gave the best smile you could as he stared at you. 

Thankfully, he finally decided to shake your hand, though that didn’t do anything but send a shiver down your spine when you felt actual bones touch your hand. When he pulled away, you tried to look as collected as possible.

“Well.. at least they’re more polite than that other human you brought… Last time she nearly started a wrestling match with one of my most loyal customers,” he scoffed. You had a feeling he was talking about Casey—though you wouldn’t cross out Sunita either. “This one though.. is much more sweaty..” He grimaced (how a skeleton was able to grimace is something you’ll never know the answer to), not so subtly wiping his hand on his suit jacket. 

You cringed, sinking down into your booth seat. You weren’t that sweaty…

“Anyhow, I’ll send one of my waiters to come take your orders. Please try not to destroy my restaurant this time.” And just like that, the skeleton man was gone. 

“Well..!! That went… well..!!” April squawked out awkwardly. You wanted to disappear.

“I thought you said he was cool with humans..!” You hissed, glaring sharply at Leo as you recovered from the most painful experience in your life.. which is honestly saying something.

“Well, you’re still here, aren’t you?? He would’ve sent you to the Minotaur Maze otherwise,” he tried to assure you, but there was something about catching a close call with a place called the ‘Minotaur Maze’ that did not help settle your nerves.

“I am going to murder you.”

“That’s fair,” He said with an indifferent shrug before his gaze shifted over, and suddenly the calm, cool, and collected demeanor he exuded disappeared, as he then soon began to attempt hiding behind his menu. “Nonononono..!”

Confused, you shifted your gaze, watching as a white rabbit Yokai brought a tray of drinks to a table close to yours, dressed in the matching uniform all the waiters shared.

“What? It’s just a waiter,” you said, beginning to wonder if Leo had some weird phobia with waiters—which was relatable as shit, but didn’t seem to match his character.

His brothers turned and looked, but instead of the same nervousness that consumed Leo, they all grinned in amusement—even April laughed.

“Oh, that’s not just a waiter,” Raph chuckled, nudging Leo’s side as he swatted Raph away. Mikey jumped in.

“It’s his booooyyyyyfffrrrriiiieeeennnddd—”

“Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP,” Leo seethed through his teeth, peeking from behind his menu. “He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Only because every time he comes by, you can barely get a word out,” Donnie teases, leaning against the table with his chin in his hand.

“No!” Leo argued with a sharp glare. “I just—look, he just looks like a cool dude! It’s not like I’m madly in love with him.”

Everyone at the table (minus you because you were still struggling to keep up) was giving him unconvinced expressions.

“Riiiiight.. and this is coming from the guy who once came here for a week straight just so you could know what nights he works,” April muttered, making you drop your jaw.

“He didn’t,” You gasped.

“I didn’t—” Leo tried to confirm.

“He very much did,” Donnie intruded.

“No way.”

“Guys, I didn’t—”

“Oh, yes way,” Raph nodded.

“This is the last time I’m taking any of you out for pizza. The last time!”

“Well, that would be a shame..!” Said a new voice. 

You all turned, grinning so wide as the rabbit waiter now stood before your table, a clueless expression on his face. “I enjoy seeing you guys here..! It’s much more interesting here anyway. Plus, it always ticks off my boss.”

You all looked back at Leo, who looked horrified, but bunny boy—‘Usagi’ read his name tag—failed to notice, because he began pulling out a small notepad to take your orders.

“Are you guys ready to order?”

You grinned, looking over at Leo. “I dunno.. are we, Leo?” You asked, who looked like he was about to strangle you. 

“Y-e-s…” he choked out through gritted teeth.

“Great! What can I get started for you guys?”

As it turned out, you guys weren’t ready to order, because Donnie, Mikey, Raph, and even April had a five-minute debate over what to order, before they eventually settled on some supreme pizza dish (everything else was basically inedible for you and April in one way or another). Leo barely said a word the whole agonizing time, only sipping his water to hide his face.

But thankfully, Usagi seemed used to the shenanigans—you began to wonder just how often they came here if the whole waiting staff had become used to their havoc. It was impressive, in all honesty.

“So…” you started, grinning over at Leo. “The tortoise and the hare.”

This earned an unexpected snort from Donnie, who began to cough back up the sip of water he had just taken as everyone began to laugh at Leo’s expense.

“Okay, it was not that funny..!”

“No, no..! We ain’t laughing..!” Raph wheezed, hiding his snaggle tooth smile behind his large hand.

“Yeah..! I mean—look at the progress you made! You managed to say a single word in front of him!” April encouraged between her fits of laughter.

“Can you stop?!” Leo begged.

“Oh—oh yeah?? Well, what about You, Casey, and Sunita, huh?!” He asked, pointing an accusing finger at April, who froze immediately. “What’s going on with that!”

“What—what do you mean?” April scoffed, trying and failing to play it off. “We’re.. we are just friends.”

“Sure, and I enjoy the fascinating and totally not boring subject that is geology,” Donnie added sarcastically, a dull look on his face. “If you’re going to lie, at least be good at it.”

“I’m not lying..!” April insisted, face flushed, before shaking her head and glaring back at him. “You’re just trying to get out of being the topic of conversation..!”

He gave a weak, guilty shrug. “Nooooo.”

“Y-e-s,” Mikey said, doing a skillful imitation of him and earning another round of laughs.

“Look, can we please just move on??” He groaned before you all decided to have mercy on him just this one time. For now.

“Actually, we should probably talk about our next course of action–” Raph started, making everyone around the table fall into complaining groans. “C’mon, guys! I know we’re tired of getting our asses handed to us, but we gotta find a way to deal with these things eventually,” He continues.

“I second this..” You grumbled, momentarily reminded of your sore back. “I know I’m a bit newer to this, but I dunno how much more getting thrown around I can take..” You groaned, reaching behind yourself to rub the bruise on your back. “Besides, the longer we take on this, the more people will get hurt.”

“Fiiiiine..” Leo relented, soon followed by everyone else, leaning forward against the table, “So we’ve got the Bug Slapper now, we’ve got the supply of Big-M’s webs—now what?”

“Well..” Donnie cleared his throat, turning everyone’s attention to him, “I was going to show all of you in this big, elaborate reveal—but I suppose this will have to suffice.” With raised brows, you all watched him with intrigue as he put his phone away and began typing on the small tablet on his wrist. “As you all know, I have been working on rebuilding the Bug Slapper—however, after some further discussion with Draxum, I realized just how ineffective it would be… So I took it all apart—”

“You did what,” April hissed, staring at him with disbelief and anger. “After we risked our asses so we could get you those stupid parts—”

“I took it all apart aaaaaannnnndddd–” Donnied continued without acknowledging her, before pulling up a small hologram from his tablet gauntlet, revealing a blaster of sorts—resembling a mix between a Nerf gun and something out of a Starwars movie. “–ddd... Ended up developing these bad boys. Or girls. We don’t discriminate,” He said with a shrug, before showing off a smug grin. “I call them the Bug Blasters. Not only are they much more compact, but they have an increased auto-targeting and firing accuracy of up to twelve-point-seven-five percent,” He explained proudly, “Since, obviously, they require less materials, I was able to make one for each of us,” He said, gesturing to himself and his brothers, before looking to you and April, “But of course, if needed, I can certainly develop more for you two and the girls, but I highly doubt we’ll need that many. I figured this option would be much more beneficial and effective for when we go on patrols.”

As much as you wanted to be mad that you wasted a bunch of time helping him rebuild the damn bike, you couldn’t help but be impressed. Once again, Donnie outdid himself. No surprise there.

“Donnie.. This is awesome..!” Mikey grinned, looking just as impressed as you felt. 

“For real! Excellent work, hermano!” Leo added in.

“I know,” Donnie said confidently, “And after some recent.. Findings about the mutants..” He said, subtly glancing your way before looking back towards the other, “I am currently in the works of developing some technology that we can use against the mutants. Back when (Y/n) and I ran into that mutant the other night, we—well, really it was (Y/n) who noticed how it seemed to have a fear response to some of my tech…” He said, casually gesturing to you before carrying on, hand on his chin. “I am still not sure why or how, but I plan to do some further testing and see if hopefully we can use it to our advantage.”

“Great work, Don,” Raph nodded, looking at his brother with a sense of pride, before turning to the hologram, “You said you already got these built?”

“Yep, they just need a bit of... Field testing..” Donnie said with a knowing smirk as each of the boys looked at each other excitedly. “You can test them out on our next patrol.”

“Heck yeah!” Mikey cheered, pumping his fist.

“Donnie, have I ever told you how much I love you?” Leo asked.

“Yes, yes—save your praise and thanks for later,” Donnie said, that smug smile still plastered to his face. God, his ego was definitely through the roof now. “Oh, who am I kidding? I’m a genius and you would be screwed without me.”

Thankfully before Donnie could stroke his own ego even more, Usagi returned with the pizza. As soon as the tray was set on the table, everyone was already digging in. Even Leo seemed to forget that Bunny Boy was still there. You blinked in horror, looking at Usagi with a petrified expression as the other demolished the pizza.

“Does this.. always happen?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t already expect this.”

Yeah, honestly this is on you.

Once Usgai left, you snagged a slice for yourself, taking a small bite. 

The pizza was—well—nothing short of astonishing. Maybe it was just because you hadn’t eaten since this morning—but just.. woah. You now understood why they were so quick to shove as much into their mouths as they could. You found yourself unable to stop grabbing for another slice, mouth already drooling over its cheesy glory. The only reason you were able to pull your gaze from the slice in your hand was because of the light laughter you heard around you.

“Look at their face..! Heh!” Raph chuckled, making you perk your head up with a mouthful of pizza goodness.

“Hm?” You asked, caught in the middle of taking another gooey bite, earning a few more laughs from the guys.

“Nothing—how are you liking the pizza?” April asked warmly, as you continued to gnaw at your slice. You were about to speak when you remembered the food in your mouth and quickly forced yourself to swallow. 

“This is the best fucking thing I’ve ever had,” you said, staring at her dead in the eyes. There was silence for a brief moment before laughter once more broke out around the table. “What??” You frowned in confusion.

It wasn’t long before the entire pizza was consumed, and you ended up ordering another. Then another three pizzas to go, of course. Usagi returned with your pizza boxes and the check, which all of you felt hesitant to look at. Eyes flickered to Leo, who looked more confident than he should’ve. 

“Don’t worry, guys,” He said, sounding all too assured. “I’ve got it covered.” He began to reach for his wallet, and that confidence immediately shriveled up and died in the back of the very restaurant you were sitting in. “Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh—”

“You forgot it again.. didn’t you?” Mikey asked with an expectant look.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh—”

“Should I put it on your guys’ tab..?” Usagi asked hesitantly.

“NONONONO, I’VE GOT IT—UHM.. SOMEWHERE,” Leo stressed, sweat beading on his forehead as he searched his person for the wallet. Donnie just sighed and pulled out his own wallet, pulling out some cash and placing it over the check. 

Usagi awkwardly took the cash as Donnie gave Leo a look of death. “You. Owe. Me.” Donnie said, as his brother in blue gave a terrified thumbs up.

Thankfully, April broke the tension back clapping her hands together. “—SO.. anyone wanna head to the park..?” She asked with a forced grin. 

You sat off to the side on the cool, metal bleachers as Raph, Mikey, and Donnie skated in the small rink at the park, while April and Leo played a little one-on-one basketball. You were skilled in neither activity, so you opted to be the referee for Leo and April (despite knowing very little about basketball fouls. Whenever there was a dispute, you mostly just sided with April to spite Leo). 

It was fun—for the first five minutes. But sitting still for long intervals of time left you and your undiagnosed ADHD rather bored, so you took a nearly dried-up Sharpie from your bag and began to add to the infinite amount of scribbles, doodles, and curse words that were etched, scratched, and graffitied onto the bleachers.

Your addition was several different constellations you had managed to pull out from the depths of your brain after years of never thinking about them. It came surprisingly easy to you, but honestly, it shouldn’t have been much of a shock, since you did spend a few too many hours memorizing every new constellation you’d learn. Most were simple, like the Hercules and Lyra constellations, and some recognizable ones, like Ursa Major and Minor.

You were finishing up the Perseus Constellation–a rather fun one to draw– when you heard a set of wheels roll up beside where you were sitting. You felt Donnie hover over you, watching you finish the stupid little doodle.

“Yeeeeeesssss?” You asked patiently, connecting the last of the two dots before looking back at him, only to be surprised by how intently he looked at your drawings. It wasn’t until after a moment he noticed you looking at him.

“Sorry. Just wanted to see what you were doing over here,” he said, head tilted as he looked back at your doodles. “Ah, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Classics.” 

You smiled a bit as he mused over your drawings. “I was bored,” you tried to explain, shrugging your shoulders with a lack of any real explanation. “Felt like committing some light vandalism.”

“I can see.” He let out a small chuckle, a light grin on his face as he looked at you. “Is there perchance another reason you’ve decided to isolate yourself over here?” 

You let out a snort. “You did not just unironically say ‘perchance’ right now,” you snickered. 

“Shut up. I’m trying to pretend I care about your problems right now, the least you can do is not make fun of my grammar decisions,” he scowled, his brows furrowing.

You managed to stifle another laugh, hiding your grin behind your sleeve. “Right, right—continue.” You gestured for him to carry on, trying to put on a straight, unamused face.

“Thank you. Now, as I was saying—would you perchance like to vent about your problems and-slash-or concerns to your very wise and compassionate friend.” He asked, looking at you expectantly.

You couldn’t fight the smile that was crawling its way back onto your face, admittedly flattered that Donnie would even offer to pretend to care about you. Isn’t that just thoughtful of him, the most conceited and egocentric person you’ve ever met was taking the time out of his night to act like he gives a flip about you. Probably the kindest thing Donnie has ever done. In his whole life.

“Thank you, wise and compassionate friend, but I’m okay,” You declined, and for once, it wasn’t a lie. Tonight had actually been rather enjoyable for you, and you found yourself free from the usual worries that plagued your mind. It was hard to be miserable when you were around these guys. “I’m just taking a breather.”

Again, this wasn’t a lie. Because as enjoyable of a night you were having with the others, your shift from the rink tonight drained most of your social battery, and dinner at Hueso’s took the last remainder of it. 

Donnie looked at you for a moment, probably trying to decipher if this was the truth or not. But finally, he seemed to have managed to come to a conclusion and accepted your statement as factual enough. “Very well,” he shrugged nonchalantly, before glancing at you again. “Just know.. the offer is out there,” he said with a small wave of his hand, before sitting down beside you, foot on his skateboard to keep it near.

You felt a bit surprised by that last thing he said, but your expression softened and you nodded. “Thanks..” You murmured, glancing down and eyeing at his skateboard. “I didn’t figure you were the type to like skateboarding,” I say, subtly attempting to switch topics.

Donnie perked up again as you spoke, before shrugging once again. “Eh, I tend to subvert expectations.” He said, before glancing at you with a grin, while you silently returned. “Have you ever learned?”

“Nah, I’m loyal to my one and only,” you said, holding your hand to your heart as you referred to the roller rink. “But it’s cool that you know how to. Seems like a tricky thing to learn.”

“Not really,” He admitted, “I mean, it’s like when you ride a bike. You just keep practicing until it sticks.”

“Do you even know how to ride a bike?”

“That’s beside the point.”

You laughed, and then so did he.

Silence filled the space between you two again before Donnie spoke again. 

“I could, uh.. teach you. If you wanted,” He offered awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

You blinked at him, once again surprised by Donnie tonight. “You would?”

“Sure,” He said, “Like I said, it’s not hard. You’d probably pick it up pretty quickly.” He then looked at you, almost looking shy—or as close as Donnie physically CAN get to shy. “Would you want me to teach you..?”

You felt something squeeze your heart, and you were confused when your chest felt tight. Like in an anxious way, but also in a really nice way..? It was weird.

“S... Sure...” You kicked yourself when you heard yourself stutter, feeling embarrassed and awkward—so you quickly deflected with a joke. “But I should warn you, I’ll probably suck.”

“You can’t be that bad,” He assured.

Turns out you were, in fact, that bad. 

“(Y/n), you have to let go if you want to move,” Donnie stressed once more as your hands gripped onto his arms like a lifeline, while you awkwardly tried to keep balance on the board.

“Dude, no. I’m gonna fall—”

“You’re not going to fall—”

“I’m gonna die.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Donnie shook his head. “See? You just gotta keep balance. Remember what I said about the bolts, that’ll help you.” He said, as you gifted your feet over the eight, small bolts in the board. 

“Okay…” You mumbled, but as soon as you felt the board move under you, your grip tightened on him. “Nope! Nope, I can’t do it.”

“Hey, relax..! You’re fine, see?” He assured you. “That’s normal. Just try to keep yourself balanced—just like this, okay?” He said, letting you death-grip onto him as you managed to stay on the board.

“I’m so good at this,” You muttered under your breath, trying to convince yourself that you were more confident than you were

“So good,” Donnie said off-handedly, “Now, I’m going to let go—”

“No,” you fired instantly, eyes glued to the board as if it’s slipped out from under you the moment you looked away

“Yeah, you’re not gonna learn otherwise,” Donnie sighed, trying to pry his arms from your hands.

“I’ll fall.”

“I won’t let you fall.”

“You promise?” You asked, finally looking up at him. Donnie stared back for a moment.

“I promise,” He said, “You just gotta get used to standing on the board on your own. I’ll be right here.”

“Okay..” You breathed nervously, “Okay.” You drew your hands back, still holding them out in the air a bit as you worked on keeping your balance on the board. “Like this..?”

“Just like that,” Donnie affirmed, smiling slightly. “You’re doing good—just try to get comfortable on the board.” You did, working on tilting the board forward and back to get used to the feeling. “For someone who literally works with roller skates all the time, I figured you’d be used to this kind of thing.”

“Look—skating and skateboarding are two very different things,” You huffed back, scowling slightly as you glanced up at him briefly. “It’s just been a while since.. since I learned something like this, okay?? I’ve been roller skating since I was seven. I’m used to that. This is completely different.”

“Okay, okay—,” Donnie said, though you were pretty sure he wasn’t too convinced. “C’mon, I’ll show you how to push off.”

All things considered, Donnie was actually a very good teacher. Minus the occasional frustrated sigh or snapping comment, he remained fairly patient with you as you struggled along. And not once did he complain about your bone-crushing grip on his arms when you tried to keep from falling over, despite the clear pain and discomfort that was on his face. 

You had received quite the cheer squad while learning with Donnie, with April and the guys watching you occasionally and giving words of encouragement before continuing on with their respective activities. While embarrassed at first, you felt grateful that no one was making fun of you for your lack of experience for something you were sure they all had. Once again, you found yourself more at home with these guys than anywhere else, free from any judgment.

By the time you were done, you had only ended up falling on your ass six times—which would’ve been a lot more if it weren’t for all the times Donnie did manage to catch you. So even though he failed to keep you from falling one-hundred percent of the time, you couldn’t find yourself able to hold it against him considering all the times he literally saved you from bruising your tailbone. 

But, of course, right when you were getting the hang of it, someone pointed out how late it was and you all decided it was probably time for April and you to get going. 

“See you guys!” April waved, before stepping into the fresh portal Leo made for her—which gave a perfect view into her bedroom appearing through the blue, glowing vortex. 

“Want me to portal you back?” Leo offered after he closed up the portal he made for April. You recalled how sick you felt earlier that evening after walking through one very similar to it and promptly declined.

“Uhm.. thanks, but no thanks. I’m okay with walking—I don’t think I live too far from here anyway,” You said, giving a polite grin to hide the disdain you had for mystic, magical portals—because so far, your track record with them wasn't very good.

Leo shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“I’ll walk them back,” Donnie volunteered with the raise of his hand after a beat, moving to stand beside you.

Oh yeah—you almost forgot about the whole ‘dangerous super mutant’ thing. After everything, you definitely shouldn’t be walking the streets alone now (I mean, you definitely shouldn’t have before, but still).

“Aw, c’mon..! You’ve hogged (Y/n) all night!” Mikey teased, smiling wide as Raph quickly chimed in.

“Yeah, give us a turn,” He snickered, looking at his younger brother with a snaggle-toothed grin.

Donnie’s face scrunched up. “I am not hogging–” Leo surprisingly then intervened. 

“Alright, alright.. Get out of here, you kids, before it gets too late,” He said, pushing his brother and you away. “We’ll see you at home, Don.”

You let out a small chuckle, giving a small wave to him, Mikey, and Raph. “See you guys. Thanks for dinner,” you teased with a small grin.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah—whatever,” Leo waved you off, managing to hide his embarrassment from the pizza joint. “Night, (Y/n).”

“Yeah, see ya, (Y/n)!” 

“See ya!”

“The name is Yoshimi,

She’s got a black belt in karate,

Working for the city,

She had to discipline her body,

‘Cause she knows that.. it’s demanding,

To defeat those evil machines,”

You walked down the sidewalk, hands in your pockets as you watched Donnie glide beside you on the empty street with his skateboard, matching pace with you. Your headphones covered your ears, music playing quietly from speakers. As much as you liked hanging out with the others, it could be very overstimulating. Thankfully, Donnie seemed to understand and didn’t force you into any unwanted conversation, letting you keep to yourself while he took you home.

 As you kicked at stray pebbles on the sidewalk and reflected on things, with The Flaming Lips quietly playing from your headphones, your gaze unintentionally trailed over to Donnie’s face, quietly admiring the calm, oddly soft expression he had as he looked ahead. 

“Oh, Yoshimi.. They don’t believe me,

But you won’t let those robots eat me,

Yoshimi, they don’t believe me,

But you won’t let those robots defeat me,”

As ridiculous as it sounded, you found yourself surprised to see Donnie partaking in such a simple, normal activity. You were just so used to the evil scientist-esk persona he usually displayed and, admittedly, you even sometimes forgot you both were the same age. He acted so much older than his age sometimes—actually, all of his brothers did. 

“Those evil-natured robots,

They’re programmed to destroy us,

She’s gotta be strong to fight them,

So she’s taking lots of vitamins,”

But as odd as it was to see, you felt kind of happy to see him like this. Like how a normal teenager should be. Because that’s what he was, even if sometimes you forgot. You wondered if he forgot sometimes too. 

“‘Cause she knows that.. it’d be tragic,

If those evil robots win..,”

You looked down at his legs as he pushed himself forward with one foot and kept himself steady on the board with the other. You noticed the lack of bandages and felt a bit relieved when you couldn’t see any scarring. The last thing you wanted was to be the reason his leg would be forever scarred because you were too incompetent, both in the fighting and healing departments. 

You already owed the guy for so many things—all the way from offering to fix your headphones free of charge to saving your life half a dozen times in the span of a few months—you really didn’t need anything else to be added to that list. 

“I know she can beat them..,

Oh, Yoshimi, they don’t believe me,

But you won’t let those robots defeat me,

Yoshimi, they don’t believe me,

But you won’t let those robots eat me—”

As you both rounded the corner, you felt a buzzing in your pocket, your ringtone—the theme for the Caesar Flickerman show, because of fucking course it was—blaring through your headphone speakers. Nearly shitting yourself, you pulled your headphones off, relieving your poor, deafened ears. You then grabbed your phone, immediately answering the call to stop that God-forsaken noise before it could continue, not even thinking to check the caller ID. 

“Hello?” You said into the phone, just barely catching the small glance Donnie sent your way.

“(Y/n)! Hey, it’s been a bit!” 

You paused, registering the familiar voice of Jeffery. You were surprised to hear him—especially since you forgot you even had his number.

“Oh—uh.. hey man!” You greeted after a moment, feeling some confusion. “What.. uhm.. What's up? How’s New Jersey?”

“Terrible. But that’s to be expected,” He joked, letting out a small chuckle. “But uh.. actually, it’s been nice! Settling into school and everything. Got some part-time jobs. What about you?”

“That’s good,” You smiled, before considering his question. You sneaked a small glance toward Donnie without him noticing, feeling your smile grow a bit more. “Things.. things have been pretty good.”

“That’s good,” He said, pausing for a beat, before continuing. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Immediately, dread filled a deep pit in your stomach as your brows furrowed. Those were the eight words you never wanted to hear within your lifetime, so obviously you began to internally panic about it. Possibilities began to flood your mind, but before you could spiral into each and every one of them, Jeffery continued.

“I’m going to be heading back to the neighborhood in a couple of days to meet with some old buddies of mine. We were all kinda in a small band before I had to move,” He further elaborated, “We’re gonna play one final show together at this small joint I know, and I was wondering if you’d wanna stop by? It’s on Friday.”

Oh. Well, that was underwhelming. You thought it was going to be something a whole lot worse.

“Oh yeah? Sure, I think I’ll be free then,” You said, missing the small look you received from Donnie, his face scrunching up a bit. “What time?”

“Like, Eleven-thirty-ish. Around that time. I’ll send you the address,” He said, before quickly adding on. “There’s actually something else I need to tell you, but I want to talk to you in person—so just meet me after the show, okay?”

You felt a bit puzzled by this. What could be so important that he couldn’t tell you now? “Uhm.. Okay, sure,” You agreed, feeling nervous again. “I’ll see you then.”

“Great! Thank you. I’ll see you then, Bee Gee.”

And with that, he hung up. Leaving you confused, but admittedly a bit excited. It would be good to see him again. 

“So.. who was that?” Donnie piped up, making you glance to look at him. You’d almost forgotten he was there.

“Oh, just an old friend... I suppose. He invited me to his band’s concert next week,” You replied, brushing it off and shoving your phone back in your pocket.

Donnie peered at you with curiosity. “You.. suppose?”

“I mean—we aren’t close or anything. He was just a coworker buddy before he had to move away. We were kind of friends out of circumstance.” You attempted to explain, only making him give you an odd look.

“Circumstance?”

“Well, y’know,” You continued awkwardly, “Like—I was only really friends with him because he was kind of the only likable person there..” You answered. “But we weren’t actually—like, close or anything. We’ve only known each other for a bit.”

Donnie looked at you, before nodding his head. He then put his foot on the ground, effectively stopping himself before putting his other foot on the back of the board and kicking it up, grabbing the front and holding it by the side horizontally. “So I guess you’re.. going?” He asked, now walking beside you on the sidewalk, sparing you a small glance.

You hesitated, before sheepishly nodding your head. “Yeah, probably,” You nodded, “He said he wanted to talk to me. About something important.”

Donnie held a skeptical look on his face. “And you couldn’t just.. tell you over the phone.”

“He said he wanted to talk about it in person.” He scoffed at this.

“Well.. that’s definitely not suspicious,” He grumbled a bit.

“Kinda..” You agreed, giving a weak shrug, “But it’s probably nothing. Jeffery’s chill.”

“Said every murder victim ever probably,” He retorted with a slight snicker. 

“That’s mean,” You half-heartedly scolded, glaring at him. “Look, he’s nice, okay? You haven’t even met him, don’t be judgemental.”

“Uhm, have you met me? Being judgemental is a significant characteristic of mine,” He said with a bit too much pride.

“So is being a massive dick—” Donnie let out a scoff before you could even finish muttering under your breath.

“I am not a—.. how dare you!” He sputtered, making you grin a bit. “This is what I get for being a gentleman, I guess! I offer to walk you home and this is the thanks I get!” He said with exasperation, throwing his spare hand up in defeat, only making you laugh more.

“Hey, you didn’t have to walk me home,” you pointed out, grinning when you noticed his face scrunch up in a flustered way. But it only took a moment for him to recollect himself.

“Well, judging by your tendency to attract every dangerous thing within fifty feet of your vicinity, I had no other choice but to insist I come along and make sure you didn’t get yourself killed by another rampant mutant,” He struggled to justify, only making your stupid grin wider.

“I could’ve used Leo’s portal.”

“And let you choose the lazy man’s option? Absolutely not,” He declared, lifting his chin up with some defiance.

“Uh-huh.. and you’re sure it’s not because you just.. happen to enjoy my company?” You asked, raising a small brow.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” He scoffed again, though he glanced back at you with a small grin—it was barely even noticeable, but you supposed you’d been around him long enough to tell the difference. For some reason, you felt warm when he looked back at you.

You walked in silence then, crossing an empty intersection, before he finally spoke again. 

“I am sorry, by the way, for not informing you of the Bug Blasters,” He said, making you have to do a double take. 

“Why are you sorry? You basically made a Spider-man-themed gun, you have nothing to apologize for,” You said with a chuckle.

He laughed along with you briefly, before trailing off. “It’s just.. I feel.. Bad.. that I had you help me do all that work with the Bug Slapper just for me to tear it all down and build something else entirely,” He explained, before continuing, “I just.. I had the idea the night after you and the girls brought in all those parts, and I realize if I tore down the Bug Slapper, I would have just enough of everything to make all of them—and I couldn’t just.. Not! Y’know..?”

“I get it..” You said after a moment, “I’m glad you went through with making them. I bet they look ten times cooler in person,” You grinned.

Donnie looked at you briefly, a hint of surprise on his face. “So.. you aren't mad?”

“No? It’s your invention, dude. Plus, no offense, those blasters look like... A billion times more badass than the bike,” You snickered, making him pause before he returned with a smirk on your face. 

True..” He muttered, looking ahead of himself in thought, “I just didn’t want you to think your effort was for naught, because it wasn’t. You were a very big help, in all honesty.”

“Really??” You said with a smug grin, imitating him from before, “You’re saying the great and magnificent Donatello needed my help. Why, I am so honored—”

“Shut up–”

“Nonono.. Please, please—go on. Do tell just how helpful I was, Donnie.”

“You are the stupidest person I ever met,” He groaned, throwing his head back in complaint.

“I think you mean most helpful.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me, just admit it.”

“Whatever,” He shrugged it off, glancing away briefly, almost looking... flustered..(?).. under your gaze. You couldn’t help but grin to yourself, before he then tried to get you both moving again. “C’mon, let’s get you home. It’s getting too cold out here..” He pretended to complain, probably to distract you from his sudden moment of embarrassment. You had decided to let it slide, following him down the sidewalk to your apartment.

It wasn’t long until you got to it, climbing up the fire escape and stopping in front of your bedroom window. You crawled inside and turned back to face Donnie, leaning against your windowsill to bid him farewell. 

“Like your ceiling by the way,” He said as he peered into your bedroom, briefly leaving you confused until you looked back, seeing the plastic stars glowing in the darkness of your bedroom. You grinned, seeing the new constellation you had recently added, before turning back to face him.

“Thanks. Some nerd made me these dope ass glow-in-the-dark stars to help me finish it,” You said with a teasing grin.

Donnie scoffed, rolling his eyes before he reached his hand over, ruffling your hair for a second. “Night, you loser,” He said, his monotone voice drenched with amusement.

“Night, Donnie,” You said to him in return after he pulled his hand away, brushing your hair out of your face.

Donnie lingered there outside your window for a second, before turning to leave. He turned to you for a second, giving a small wave before he suddenly leaped over the side of the fire escape, disappearing without another word. You knew there was no point in chasing him over the side, he would already be long gone by the time you crawled back outside the fire escape.

So you closed your window, dropped your backpack to the ground, and kicked off your shoes, not even bothering to change before falling on top of your bed. In mere seconds, you were out like a light, a warm, fuzzy feeling in your chest. 

Chapter Text

“Try the white one on,” April instructed through the phone as you stepped out of view of the camera to slip on the white tee.

“Ooo! Put the jean jacket back on with that! I wanna see what it’d look like,” Sunita piped up as you stepped back into view and slid on the blue jean jacket that laid on your bed.

“Well?” You ask, peering back at your phone that sat propped up on your desk, showing April, Sunita, and Casey’s faces each in their own little square.

“Eh, nah—it’s not… it’s not giving,” April stressed.

“Giving what?” You asked, gesturing helplessly.

“..It’s just not giving,” she repeated, like that cleared anything up.

You sighed, defeated. 

You had been on facetime for nearly an hour with the girls, who all insisted on helping you pick an outfit for tonight. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to agree on what a proper concert outfit consisted of.

“Look, I’ll just wear what I normally do..” You muttered ,  getting a bit fed up with all this back and forth.

“No! Absolutely not!” Sunita argued quickly, slamming her hands against her desk in protest. “This is a concert. A rave! You need to have the correct apparel!!” 

Casey and April nod in agreement. You groaned, completely exasperated, as you flopped down and sat on the edge of your bed, looking back at your phone from its propped up position on your desk.

“Maybe I just shouldn’t go.”

“What?? No!” April exclaimed. “Your friend just personally invited you to his show!! You have to go.”

“I mean… are we really friends…? We were just coworkers for a few weeks…” You murmured, looking awkwardly at your phone screen.

“If he thought you were close enough to invite you to his gig, he probably considers you two to be relatively close! C’mon, live a little!” Sunita insisted.

“I feel like if I live anymore I’ll end up being mauled to death by a giant fly…” You muttered under your breath, before looking back at the girls with concern. “Plus.. wouldn’t it be dangerous to go out on my own..? I mean, it’s dangerous enough hanging around you guys… no offense.”

“Rude, but fair,” April nodded before continuing, “But I wouldn’t be too worried, you’ll be with a huge crowd of people in an enclosed space. Based on what we’ve seen, these new mutants tend to steer clear from high traffic areas. So as long as you aren’t out on the streets by yourself for too long, you should be fine.”

“True..” You murmured, thinking back to all your run-ins with these new mutants these past few months. “The venue isn’t too far from here.. but still.”

“Trust me, you’ll be fine,” she rolled her eyes, before she grinned, “Besides, you need this! A night to let loose and dance to horrible midwestern emo music!!” 

“Have I not let loose enough??” You scoffed, baffled. “I think I’ve let loose plenty.”

“You’re as loose as a cement wall,” April retorted, “Now back to the main task at hand!!” 

You groaned, pulling at your hair.

Thankfully, after thirty more minutes of debate, you settled on an outfit and waved the girls goodbye, ending the call. As fashionable as they could be (you were very envious of Casey’s get up), they were.. less than helpful in agreeing on what you should wear. Not that you thought it was that big of a deal regardless, but you did feel some obligation to dress up. You didn’t want to potentially look like a big fashion mess in front of some cool goth girls. That’s honestly the last thing you needed.

Once you finished with some final touches—fixing your hair, adding some old jewelry you had laying around—you looked at yourself proudly in your mirror. It was.. kind of nice to dress up like this. Maybe April had a point. You needed a break from the mutants and the Oozquitoes and.. all this craziness. 

As you awkwardly picked at the acne you saw in your reflection, wondering if it would be at all noticeable, you were surprised by a sudden knock at your bedroom door.

“Kid? You still alive in there?” 

You panicked, looking down at your clothes. Shit. There’s no way you don’t look like you’re going out on the town to some fuckass underground concert. Channeling the speed you never could have but wish you did in gym class, you dashed to your bed and tossed back the covers, collapsing into your mattress with the elegance of a suffocating fish. 

“Ye..yeah!!” You called back. Fuck, that sounded fake as hell. 

The door creaked open and your aunt poked her head in. “Hey kid, I’m about to head out for my shift. You all good here?” She asked, giving a thumbs up for confirmation.

“Y—yep!!” You squawked out, sounding like a dying goose. “All good..!” You could feel sweat start to build up under your arms. Gross. Note to self: put on deodorant before you leave.

Thankfully, your aunt didn’t look perturbed and just gave a nod. “Alright. There’s some pizza in the fridge if you get hungry. Love ya, I’ll see you probably around noon tomorrow,” she said, hand on the door as she started to leave.

“Alright..! See you tomorrow,” you responded, feeling the nervous sweat that took over your body start to fade away as she began to shut the door—only for her to stop and look back at you.

“Oh, and maybe drink some water.. your throat sounds a little scratchy..” She said, making a clawing motion at her own throat. “It’s flu season, y’know. And no child under my roof is catching that pathetic virus!!” She exclaimed defiantly, closing the door behind her with a prideful expression.

“Okay!! Sure will!” You called, before holding your breath, only sighing in relief once you heard the front door close.

Oh god—what were you doing? Were you really about to sneak out?? You’ve been on such a rebellious streak, sneaking around and lying to your beloved aunt! What’s happened to you?! Sure, you aren’t a straight A student, but you were never a bad kid! What would she think if she found out you’ve been lying to her about where you’ve been going for the last several weeks…

You felt yourself wanting to back out—make up some poor excuse to Jeffery and block his number so he can never find you and ask why you bailed on his last show in the city before he moved away forever to New Jersey.. 

But no, again April was right. This was probably a big deal to him, and you found yourself feeling too much guilt to back out. Aunt Lynn would just have to understand. As the saying goes, act now and ask for forgiveness later.

So you slipped out of bed, applied some last minute deodorant, and climbed through your window into the cool New York night.

You knew you were in the right place when you walked into the large, abandoned warehouse that was flooded with young adults. The walls were decorated with graffiti and dollar store party streamers and balloons, and those cheap, colorful plastic disco balls were set up and spinning around, flashing bright rays of light into the dim room. People had glow sticks in their hands and around their neck or wrists or ankles, and red solo cups that smelled strongly of alcohol. 

The scene was nauseating at first, but when you heard the call of your name, you turned your head, spotting a familiar face in the crowd.

“(Y/n)! There you are!” Jeffery called, waving over from one of the walls of the warehouse, attempting to carry in a large amp with one of his buddies. He haphazardly let go of his side, leaving another one of his bandmates to dive in and take his place as he rushed over. They barked out his name, but maybe the room was too loud because he didn’t seem to acknowledge it. Standing at the edge of the crowd, it was easy enough for you to meet him halfway.

“Hey,” you greeted, hands shoved deep into your pockets after not knowing what to do with them. “How’s it going??” You called over the current band playing loudly on the makeshift stage at the very back of the warehouse. Music blared into your ears, but somehow you managed to hear his response.

“Great!! We’re just now setting up! I’m glad you could come! How’re you liking it so far?!”

“It’s..uh… loud!!” You replied, earning a laugh.

“These things typically are!!” He grinned, before his bandmates shouted at him enough to catch his attention. “Ah, shit. Gotta go. We’re up next after these next few songs!!” He said, turning to hurry back over to his friend before glancing backwards to look at you a final time. “Remember to stay after our set! Just meet me outside when we finish!!”

You nodded and gave a wave, watching him pick up a guitar case and follow his buddies. 

You merged into the crowd a bit more, listening to the last few songs of the warm-up band playing (apparently called Nightmare & the Wet Dreams… which is.. very creative), who ended off with a cover of Muse’s “Unnatural Selection.”

It took a few moments as they switched out bands; during this time, you gathered from other people that this was a popular raving joint, where a bunch of small bands would perform every few nights and young adults (and underage teenagers, much like yourself) could get sloshed and have a good time. Since this was an unregulated sort of gig, there weren’t exactly bouncers to restrict anyone from coming in. It was sketchy as fuck in all honesty (and your pretty sure you saw a couple of syringes on the ground), but you were doing this for Jeffery. You’d just watch the show, chat it up with Jeffery, and go home.

Finally, after some time waiting for them to switch out the bands, Jeffery and Co. took the stage. For the few weeks you had spent getting to know Jeffery before his sudden departure, you had learned about his band—Mount the Gallows, which was certainly the most underground midwestern band name you could possibly think of. Jeffery had sent you the SoundCloud of their handful of songs and even an EP, but you’d never actually taken the time to listen to them. Because in full honesty, you didn’t exactly feel like listening to mostly mediocre—if not shitty—music of your strange coworker’s mediocre—if not equally shitty—band. 

You had little to no clue what they actually sounded like, and you had begun to regret not grabbing your headphones. You weren’t even that much of a fan of loud spaces, so why you agreed to come, you don’t even know. Maybe you felt obligated? Like when your coworker invites you to their wedding—you don’t even know the person that well, but like—you work with them and it would be kind of rude to just say “Nah man, I like ya but like, there’s no way I’m gonna sit through that snooze fest for someone I barely tolerate.” 

Or maybe you’re just chronically socially awkward and don’t know how to say no to people. Who’s to say.

Either way, you waited for a moment or two, cringed as they quickly tuned their instruments—only to be immediately blown away as they quickly jumped into their first song without even a proper introduction. You were quickly whacked in the face with the loud assault of sound waves, a distinct, accented voice leaking from the speakers.

“The buzzing in my head says big, big trouble,”

“Walking all around with an astronaut bubble,”

“Hey, spaceman, did you see that stock roll,” 

“Check it out on your radio telescope.”

You were a bit taken aback, but managed to regain your bearings as you looked at the stage again. In the very front and center was a tall, scruffy-looking guy on the vocals, guitar in hand as a girl with split dyed hair stood by his left, joining in with a bass around her neck. On the vocalist's other side was Jeffery, also on the guitar, and behind them all was a person on the drums. The energy picked up again immediately as the crowd inflated back to life.

“I’m wishing my head wasn’t so full,”

“I’m wishing my feet were clay,”

“I hope when I get there it’ll all go away.”

“I’m wishing my head wasn’t so full!”

“I’m wishing my feet were clay!”

“I hope when I get there it’ll all go away...”

The song eventually came to a close, followed by a loud cheer of the crowd. You found yourself.. impressed, to say the least. Your ears could still actually hear! Maybe you shouldn’t have discredited Jeffery and his band so quickly.

They played a few more songs, a mix of some originals of theirs and a few covers. The longer they played, the more you finally began to let yourself do more than just nod your head to the beat, actually dancing along with the crowd of people. Despite the horrible stench of cheap beer and sweaty bodies, you found yourself enjoying the moment to just cheer and dance.  

After the second to last song, the vocalist quickly thanked the crowd and asked to take a moment to introduce the band—leading you to learn his name to be Garrison, the bassist's to be Daria, and the drummer’s to be Sam. The crowd then gave them a short cheer and applause before the band jumped into their final song of the night, a cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop” that might have actually sent lightning through your soul. 

Okay.. So maybe you should look at their SoundCloud when you get home.

You watched as Jeffery and the other bandmates began to pack up and managed to worm your way to the sideline of the sea of people. As everyone worked their way to the exit, you pulled away from the people leaving, hearing the excited chatter as you lingered around the entrance. It wasn’t long before you spotted Jeffery and his band lugging their equipment, your ex-coworker waving you down as if you couldn’t see him—despite the fact the warehouse was now barren. 

“Bee Gees!! Whaddya think??” 

You smiled and nodded. “You guys were great,” you said, as his bandmates approached the both of you.

“Guys, this is (Y/n), the kid I was telling you about,” he gestured to you while addressing his friends, making you scoff.

“You say that as if I’m not like, two years younger than you,” you retorted, arms crossed.

“Shut up, kid. Don’t disrespect your elders,” he fired back offhandedly, before turning back to his band. “Anyway… (Y/n)—meet idiots. Idiots, meet (Y/n).”

Garrison rolled his eyes. “There goes making a good impression,” he spoke, before Sam nudged his elbow.

“I mean, is he wrong?” He snickered, earning a small smile from his bandmate. Garrison sighed and shook his head.

“Guess not,” he sighed, before outstretching his hand to you, “The name’s Garrison, leader of the idiots.”

You chuckled and grabbed his hand, giving a shake.

“What an honor,” you joked, “I’m (Y/n), though, uh.. I guess you might’ve already figured that out.”

“Maybe,” Garrison grinned sheepishly, as Sam spoke up again.

“We’ve heard a thing or two about you,” he said nonchalantly.

“And that asshole, David..” Daria grumbled, the comment hitting you like a freight train. 

Jeffery immediately jumped back in. “Guys—c’mon, I’ve told you before; there was probably a good reason for him to..”

“There’s no good reason for him to ghost someone after he hooked—” Daria was then interrupted by Garrison, who slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Daria! Why don’t you introduce yourself to our new friend here!!” He said with a bit too much enthusiasm, a hint of irritation in his eyes as he looked back at the girl, who only looked annoyed, if not a little embarrassed. She then tore her head away from his hand, looking back at you.

“Howdy,” she greeted with much less enthusiasm.

“Hey,” you replied awkwardly, thousands of questions swimming around in your head. You then cleared your throat and looked toward Jeffery. “So, uh—Jeffery, you mentioned before that you needed to talk to me about something?” You asked, attempting to shift the topic of conversation.

“Oh! Yes,” Jeffery nodded, more alert now. He grabbed your arm and looked towards his friends. “I gotta talk to them about something real quick, I’ll catch up with you guys later at the diner!” He said, sharing brief goodbyes before pulling you away from his leaving bandmates.

“Bye (Y/n)! Nice meeting you!” Garrison called as the band lugged their equipment away out of the giant old warehouse. You looked to Jeffery again.

“So…” you started, “Not to be like, nosy or anything, but..”

“Ugh..” Jeffery immediately deflated once his bandmates were gone. “It’s a long story.”

You looked at him for a moment before you spoke hesitantly. “Did you and David..”

“It’s not anything like you’re thinking, okay? We just like, hung out at my place and..” He cringed and took a breath, “we might have gotten a little high and we might have,  like.., made out or whatever—not a big deal at all!”

“Not a big deal?!” You choked out, “Dude, when did this happen??”

“Well—”

“No, no,” You interrupted, “I’m sorry, it’s none of my business. I just—I mean, like, I could feel something was there, y’know, but like… really? Him?”

“Wha—hey! This is not about my taste in men—“

“Your questionable taste in men.”

“Okay, well.. rude,” He grumbled.

“It’s the truth, I’m afraid,” you shook your head solemnly.

“Okay, asshole—I’m trying to be openly vulnerable here,” Jeffery scoffed.

“Right, right—yes, you’re so correct” You nodded seriously, “Please, go on.”

He glared at you with mild annoyance before he sighed and averted his gaze to the ground. “Anyway, it.. it didn’t really matter because the night after that.. I stopped hearing from him and he stopped showing up to work.”

You gulped, looking at him nervously. 

“O…oh?” You mumbled. “So.. that’s why you wanted to go check up on him that day..?”

“Yeah, I thought… maybe he wasn’t feeling well after that night or.. I don’t know,” he sighed. “That he.. regretted what happened between us.” 

You felt your expression soften as you watched Jeffery.

“I’m sure that’s not..” you started, before Jeffery quickly interrupted.

“I know. Trust me, I know,” he said with a heavy breath, like the world was resting on his shoulders. “I’ve tried to explain that to the guys but.. they all think he’s just ghosted me and left town.”

You took a small step closer. “And you don’t think that?”

You watched him swallow thickly.

“No.” His eyes were downcasted before he closed them tight, as if preparing what he was going to say next. “This is.. actually kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What? …David?” You asked quickly.

“No,” he said again, shaking his head, “well, yes. In a way. It’s.. hard to explain but.. you remember when I told you something weird was going on?” He questioned, gazing back up at you again, looking oddly older than the nineteen year old you knew.

“Of—of course,” you muttered out with bated breath. “Couldn’t exactly forget.”

“Well… I.. god, I’m going to sound completely crazy,” he sighed with frustration, drawing a hand up to run through his hair.

You couldn’t help but give a weak chuckle. “Trust me.. I’ve probably heard crazier.”

He flashed you an anxious look before nodding and continuing. “Well.. I didn’t actually.. quit… my job at the rink…” he said awkwardly, “more so… fired..?”

“What?!” You barked. “Fired? Why?? You were like, the happiest one to be there.”

“Look! I had just.. maybe…” he cringed, “ gotten caught stealing some.. security footage from our boss…?” he muttered, making your jaw drop.

“I’m sorry—what?” You hissed, “How have you not been arrested? Did he not press charges?”

“I—well, I guess he didn’t care enough to. He just fired me,” he said before he waved his hands, shaking his head again. “Anyway, anyway—that’s not what’s important. I need you to listen to me—”

“Why would you do that? I didn’t even know we had security cameras!” You exclaimed with alarm.

“I have my reasons! And my reasons are justified because I found what I was looking for,” he said, reaching his hand into his jacket pocket and holding his fist out. Hesitantly, you reached your hand out, watching as he dropped a small flash drive into your palm.

“What… is this..?” You asked quietly, nervous. 

What crazy had he seen to freak him out this much? You were already dealing with the mutant and oozquitoe problem—you really didn’t need anything else added to your plate.  

“Jeffery, what is this,” you asked again when he didn’t respond at first. .

“The footage from the last night David came into work,” he rushed out, “It’s.. it’s mostly damaged because.. well..” he shook his head. “You’ll see when you watch it. But I need you to listen to me carefully, okay? I don’t have a lot of time.”

He clasped both of your hands together in his, encasing the flash drive into your palms. You looked at him with your full attention, your chest tight with anxiety. You had so many questions, but the crushing pressure in your chest kept you from speaking. 

“You need to get out of New York, okay? It’s not safe. Like, it’s seriously not safe. Trust me,” he emphasized, “and if you need proof, just watch the footage.”

Oh god. Oh fucking god. The night David went missing? Shit, does he know? He couldn’t, right? You’ve never seen a camera out in the alley so—but what else could he have seen? Oh fuck, did he see you inside the rink with Donnie? That wouldn’t make much sense since he’d just be warning about something you were there for. 

Mind spiraling, anxiety squeezing your chest, you finally spoke again. 

“I—Jeffery… I don’t understand..” You muttered quietly, “if you think there’s something dangerous going on, why haven’t you gone to the police…?” 

“You think I haven’t tried? They think it’s some shitty edited video to prank the internet—like, some sort of analog horror video on YouTube. They don’t believe me,” he then let go of your hands, gripping your shoulders. “But I need you to believe me. There’s—there’s something happening. I don’t know what but.. I just know that I can’t let whatever it is happen to me or you or anyone else I care about.”

“What..what about your bandmates..?” You choked out, feeling so lost for words. 

“…I’m grabbing dinner with them at this twenty-four hour diner place.. I’m telling them then,” he answered quietly. “Look, just promise me you’ll get yourself out of the city.”

“…Jeffery..” you hesitated again. “I can’t. I can’t just leave on a whim.” What about the others? You couldn’t just leave them while this Oozequitoe thing was happening. “What..what am I going to say to my aunt?” 

“I don’t know.. I just… promise me, you’ll try,” he begged, gripping your arms tight. 

“Jeff.. I.. I can’t,” you croaked out. “I… I can’t just leave. I can’t.”

He looked at you hopelessly, before he relaxed his hold a little. 

“Okay… just.. be safe…?” He whispered softly, with care and somber. You couldn’t help but feel your heart clench. He really was scared..

“I… I promise..” you mumbled, making him sigh and nod. 

“Okay,” he breathed, steeling himself and pulling away. “Okay.”

He looked at you for a moment, thousands of unspoken thoughts swimming through his gaze that made you realize just how close the two of you were to each other. For the longest time, you hardly considered yourself friends—acquaintances at the very most. But maybe you were wrong about that. Suddenly, you wanted to cry. 

But you were pulled out of the tearful goodbye you were planning in your head when he suddenly slapped the back of his neck and grumbled.

“What is it?” You asked, confused.

“Ah, just a dumb bug,” he brushed it off, looking again at you with a more meaningful gaze.

Wait..

Before you could even finish the thought, Jeffery’s complexion suddenly paled. 

“Jeffery?” You called to him, watching him stumble back and clutch his head, “Jeffery, are you okay?” 

“Ye..yeah, just… fuck,” he cursed, brushing his hair out of his face as sweat poured down his face. “Shit, give me a second.”

“Dude..” you reached out before he suddenly fell into a coughing fit, doubling over. You started to move closer when Jeffery collapsed to the ground without warning. “Jeffery..?!” You shouted, immediately falling to his side, rubbing his back and trying to get a look at him, “are you okay??”  You watched helplessly as he hacked and coughed, until suddenly he fell quiet, his body stilling for a moment. “Jeffery…? Jeffery..?!” You panicked, not receiving a response. “Jeffery, Jeffery—look at me,” you shook his shoulder, turning his body to lay him onto his back, only to see his eyes empty and his face paler than before.

You felt your blood run cold.

“Jeffery? Dammit, Jeff! Look at me!” You hissed, slapping his cheek a bit. You held a finger under his nostrils, hoping to feel him exhale some sort of breath, but there  was nothing. With even more panic, you pulled his head towards one side and tried to feel his neck. Fuck—what the fuck was happening. 

You scrambled for your phone, immediately going to call for 911, when suddenly Jeffery’s body jolted to life, horrible, painful sounds emitting from it. You jumped back, sitting on the concrete floor of the warehouse as Jeffery curled in on himself, grunting and groaning in agony, and you watched in pure horror as his body began to move in unnatural ways. You were cracking and clicking, like bones snapping and forming back together with each sharp movement. You could only stare in petrified horror as his body slowly, painfully, shifted, his skin disappearing under thick scales and rigged skin, his nails growing into claws, his clothes ripping as body parts tripled—quadrupled even—in size, the structure of his defined face molding into a more animalistic, snout-like shape. Within mere moments, the person in front of you looked nothing like the friend he was before. 

Never before had you felt more sick, your stomach churning and knotting as you watched Jeffery—or what you could hardly even call Jeffery—finally stop moving, standing on four clawed feet now as he panted out each painful breath. Your mind seemed to halt any sense of thinking, too horrified by what your eyes had just seen. You had no doubt about the misfortune you had just witnessed and you felt your throat grow tight with the terrifying conclusions that were filling your head.

 The long, ringed tail that now belonged to what was once Jeffery swatted against the ground, as his rounded snout sniffled the air. His new, beady little eyes searched the warehouse, unfortunately making eye contact with you. You looked into his once warm and friendly, now cool and dark irises. What the hell happened to him..? Was it still… Jeffery? Or was this some new horrifying creature that took his place?

Whatever it was, it seemed very much opposed to eye contact, because suddenly the large, reptilian mutant slammed its two front feet to the ground, letting out a furious cry. You got the message, because you were already turning on your heel and booking it towards the entrance. You bursted through the heavy metal doors, immediately spinning around to hold them shut as best you could. Of course, this did little to the three-hundred pound mutant, as you felt yourself flung back into the empty lot in front of the warehouse, landing on your back as the doors went flying open. You heard the growls and sniffs of the giant mutant reptile, as you quickly recovered to see it exit the warehouse. 

You watched it sniff the air momentarily, distracted by its new surroundings. You attempted to slowly get up and back away, observing the creature that was once your friend. From afar, it looked like a giant, scaly lizard or iguana or something—its scaly chin reminded you of a bearded dragon almost. 

You barely had time to process anything else, because the mutant’s eyes quickly landed on you. Your muscles yearned to move, to run, to get as far from here as possible, but your ass stayed glued to the ground until it was only about fifteen feet away. With your lower half unresponsive, you braced for impact and severe pain when you watched it prepared to pounce. You squeezed your eyes shut, shielding your face with your arms—only for you to feel a gust of wind and hear a loud thud against the pavement. 

Cautiously, you peered from behind your sleeves, eyes widening in surprise when you see a familiar figure standing between you and a now stunned mutant, the scaly creature knocked to its side from the swift and powerful attack. Your eyes fell to the glowing staff grasped in the figure’s hands, feeling a mixture of surprise and relief. 

“Donnie??” You exclaimed, finally pushing yourself to your feet. The turtle in purple only glanced back at you with an almost annoyed expression.

“Always just getting yourself into trouble, aren’t you?” He retorted with a light scoff. 

“What the hell are you doing here?!” You barked as the large scaly mutant began to rise again, growling fiercely. Donnie focused back on the creature, lunging and keeping it at bay effectively with his tech-Bo.

“Saving your ass again, apparently,” he fired back, defending against a large claw. “What are you doing here?? I thought we all agreed to not go out alone!” He called from over his shoulder, now struggling not to be overpowered by the beast.

“Uh.. can we rain check that explanation?” You asked, as Donnie grunted, falling back from the mutant.

“Yes, agreed—” he nodded, before turning to you suddenly and racing towards you. “C’mon!” He shouted, grabbing your arm and pulling you behind him. You watched the giant lizard creature begin to immediately give chase, making you quickly match Donnie’s pace as you ran out towards the streets.

“Woah—hey!” You yelped, “where are you doing?”

“Getting you out of here! Obviously,” he hissed, taking a sudden sharp turn and making you both duck into an alleyway. You panted heavily, catching your breath before you realized Donnie was still holding your arm. You yanked your wrist out of his grip easily, swallowing thickly as you peaked around the side.

“Jesus..” you murmured while watching as the mutant sniffed the streets, searching for the two of you. 

Could that thing.. Could it really be Jeffery? If you hadn’t watched it happen with your own eyes, you wouldn’t have believed it to be him. But you had, unfortunately, and now thousands of questions swirled in your mind. For some reason, your brain couldn’t comprehend that that was Jeffery. It was some alternate being separate from your old coworker. That thing wasn’t Jeffery, he wouldn’t hurt anyone. 

“What the hell were you thinking??” Donnie snapped after peeking briefly outside the dark alley, his peeved gaze landing back on you. 

“Okay—for the record, I wasn’t alone!” You defended, “Your buddy system doesn’t exactly work when the other person gets turned into a fucking mutant too!!” 

Donnie scoffed but didn’t argue, which left you with a hint of satisfaction. 

“What are you even doing out here anyway?” You questioned, watching as Donnie moved further into the alley, leaving you to follow after. 

“What do you think? I was on patrol,” he said, the small crunch of gravel under your feet sounding so much louder in the dark. “What were you doing?”

“Attending a concert,” you replied as you carefully maneuvered over some broken glass—was that a pocket knife with dried blood on it..? Great.. 

“Jesus fucking Christ..” Donnie had shook his head, looking exasperated.

Silence settled between you as you quietly roamed the empty streets. Still unnerved, you stuck close to Donnie, who didn’t make any comments. 

Finally after the adrenaline seeped from your veins, you registered the flash drive still somehow clutched in your hand. Your skin had been indented by the flash drive’s shape, slightly agitated from how hard it had pressed into your palm. You had forgotten you were even still holding it. Carefully, you palmed over it. What could possibly be on this thing that had Jeffery so freaked out? The ideas that flooded your mind made you a little sick.

Suddenly, a sorrowful pang echoed through your heart. Jeffery was so close to escaping, leaving behind this city and the threat he didn’t even know about—or maybe he did. That could explain things. Not that it mattered now. Now he was—well—that thing. 

You clenched your fist around the flash drive, staring ahead as you shove it deep into your pocket. You didn’t want to think about any of this right now. Not when the memory of watching Jeffery transforming into that creature replayed constantly in your mind.

Donnie seemed to pick up on your poor mental state as he quietly spoke up.

“…So… are you, like… okay?” 

The question had put you off, not expecting it whatsoever. Not from him.

“Uhm,” you struggled to respond. “Yeah, I guess,” you replied, not feeling keen enough to discuss everything that you had just witnessed tonight. 

 Donnie snorted “…’yeah, I guess,’ is not an answer.”

“Well, what am I supposed to say?” You retorted back, looking away from him for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m just… I wish we didn’t leave him there.”

You noticed the glance Donnie shot your way.

“What could we have done? You’ve seen what those things can do.”

“Yeah, but..” you hesitated, “that’s still a person. That’s still my friend. And we just abandoned him like that.”

Donnie sighed, looking a bit conflicted.

“…I understand what you mean, but there’s little we can do for him right now,” he said quietly. “You saw him—he was ready to tear you apart.”

The idea made you nauseous.

“But why? I wasn’t going to hurt him—he would know that,” You replied, making him sigh again.

“Who knows? Maybe the Ooze messes with logical reasoning now,” he gives a weak shrug of his shoulders. “We don’t really know what it’s capable of now. He could be more animal than human now. I bet this new Ooze has a different way of reconstructing the dna..” He mumbled, mostly to himself as you watched him rub his chin. “I’d have to get more data in order to come up with a proper hypothesis.”

“You think the Ooze is turning them into.. animals?” You asked, feeling a sense of dread and horror. 

You watched as he went to reply, before he glanced at you, his brows furrowing for a moment. “Uh.. I mean, I could be wrong. Again, I don’t have enough data to know for sure.”

That did little to assure you, but you decided the more you thought about things, the more anxious you got.

After that, the conversation died as Donnie walked you back home. Soon the streets began to be recognizable again and you had a good idea of where you were now. You made it to your apartment complex, climbing up the fire escape with Donnie not far behind. Reaching your window, you crawled inside. 

“Thanks,” you said, turning to say goodbye, “for saving me. Again.”

“Eh, I think April would have my shell if she knew I let you get murdered,” he shrugged again, looking off into the distance for a moment.

“Wow. I can feel the love from here,” you retorted sarcastically, giving a roll of your eyes. 

“I know. I’m just full of it,” Donnie monotoned, before the corner of his mouth quirked upwards. You couldn’t help but return the smile, no matter how weak it was. 

Your eyes then glanced down, noticing the sight of red on his arm.

“Shit—did you get hurt?” You questioned, making Donnie look down at his forearm.

“Oh yeah—it’s just a scratch,” He said nonchalantly, “I’ll patch it up when I get back to the lair.”

“What? I can do it here,” You replied, “It’d be better than walking home bleeding out.”

You watched as Donnie hesitated. “I don’t kn—”

“C’mon,” you said, already turning around as you waved him inside, “don’t be stupid. Let me grab the med kit.”

You opened the door of your bedroom, hearing shuffling behind you, and you couldn’t stop the slow smile that grew across your face.

Returning from the bathroom with the med kit in hand, you saw Donnie sitting awkwardly at your desk, holding his arm up to avoid dripping any blood on your belongings. You moved to your bed, sitting on the edge as Donnie kicked his legs and pushed your desk chair closer.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Donnie joked dryly as he offered out his injured arm, a sarcastic smile resting on his face.

“I’m starting to think you’re getting hurt on purpose,” you shot back, carefully holding his arm up as you cleaned around the three scratches that ran down his forearm. On closer examination, it wasn’t anything to be too concerned about—it was like a cat scratch but on a slightly larger scale—but you didn’t feel good like Donnie walking home bleeding after saving you for the billionth time. 

“I think you’re purposely getting into trouble,” Donnie retorted back.

“You think I’m trying to get myself killed?” You raised a brow at him as you grabbed some disinfectant. “Hold still, this’ll sting.”

“I’m just saying—ouch—you always seem to get—ouch—into these kinds of situations,” he commented, “…ouch.”

“Sorry,” you murmured quietly, setting the disinfectant back in the kit and grabbing some gauze.

“For the pain or for always getting into trouble?” Donnie asked.

“Both?” You replied quietly, glancing up at him briefly before you felt the need to pull your eyes back down to his arm. “I don’t know.”

As you wrapped up Donnie’s arm, a silence filled the air—until Donnie quietly spoke.

“I… don’t mind,” he murmured, “…getting you out of trouble.”

Your gaze shot up to his. 

“What?”

“I mean—” he started, pulling his eyes away from yours immediately, “I would prefer that you didn’t get into trouble so often.. but it is technically my job to protect the people—and you’re sort of that, so..” Slowly his eyes trailed back towards yours again. “So I don’t mind.”

Silence settled between you then as you slowly processed Donnie’s word. Because what the fuck did that mean? You try to decipher what he could have meant with that, but it wasn’t until he cleared his throat that you snapped back to the present.

“Are you… uh, done?” He asked, glancing down at his arm.

“Oh,” you muttered, pulling your hands back. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m done.”

“Cool,” he said awkwardly, before standing up. “I.. I better head home.”

“Okay,” you nodded, watching him walk back to your window. When he glanced at you from over his shoulder while climbing out onto the fire escape, you gave a small wave of your hand. 

“No more parties,” he pointed an accusing finger at you.

“No promises,” you replied, earning the closest thing to a smile that was possible for Donnie, before he turned his back fully towards you and leaped over the side of the fire escape.

After a few seconds of just sitting on your bed and staring at your window, you quietly cleaned up and packed up the med kit, letting the new, lonely silence surround you as you returned it to the bathroom cabinet. You felt this odd, racing feeling in your chest, which was odd given how exhausted the rest of your body was. It was tight and strange, but oddly not unpleasant, as your mind—with nothing else to physically focus on—drifted back onto what Donnie had said. 

You replayed the moment in your mind, trying to study the moment as if it’d give you some insight, before you feel a heavy weight of guilt. Jesus Christ, you just watched one your friends turn into a fucking monster tonight and all you could think about was something off handed comment Donnie said. What the actual hell was wrong with you?

The reminder of Jeffery left your heart feeling more heavy than before, your stomach more nauseous, as you reached back into your pocket, slowly pulling out the flash drive. You looked it over, feeling more sick than before the longer you stared at it. You knew you should probably see what was on it, like Jeffery had wanted you to do, but it was so late and you were so exhausted and you didn’t think your body could handle one more horrifying thing tonight.

You felt almost guilty setting the flash drive in your nightstand drawer, like you were dishonoring his last wish or something—which didn’t make sense because Jeffery wasn’t dead. Not really, in the traditional sense, but could that thing still really be Jeffery inside? What if that thing Donnie said was right—about him being more animal than man. Is it really still Jeffery if he didn’t even have his humanity any more?

Before you could let yourself spiral even further, you tiredly kicked off your shoes and crawled under the safety of your covers and blankets, not even bothering to change. You had the passing concern of not being able to shut off your ever rampant brain after everything that just happened, but as soon as your head hit the pillow, it was hard to keep your eyes open. And just like that, everything faded away, every thought and fear replaced with the empty quiet and heavy weight of sleep.