#Leo was too busy trying to get the boots on Donnie to think of the pun

[onejellyfishplease]

I wanna put unmutated Donnie in a tiny sweater…

How could you do this to him

[matrixxsystem]

I can't not tell you guys the story now-

buckle up sluts this so much more comfort and fluff than I've ever written before-

This is how Leo found Marmalade This is a western AU where after the invasion the surface of New York was too triggering so they ran off to the middle of nowhere to try and heal. CW: This AU is a little dark, it wont be explored in full but there might be mentions of dealing with mental illness and having PTSD so just be a lil warned, but this is supposed to be just a lil one off about how he found his lil lady :3

Boots With The Spurrs

The sun had just reached the apex of the sky, heat beating down with such a vengeance you'd think someone owed it money or something.. Though lets be real, it wasn't like it was any cooler yesterday or the day before. The slider never minded though, he loved the sun and all that came with it. And that cool summer breeze that nearly blew his hat off, even as he held on while the wind shoved him back towards the house, or tired to at least- He loved that too. It was so clear each night and so quiet every morning.. The air was so clean, and the grass was so soft.. The first time he stepped foot on the property of their new home he spent a good hour just laying outside and taking it all in. He couldn't remember why exactly him and his family came out here, but it'd been maybe five or six years since they moved now, and it was a hell of an adjustment sure, any city boy would be turned on his head being stuck out in the middle of god knows where. But even when he missed some of the busy aspects, the bright lights and colors, the smells and constant chatter of people, he could only remind himself that there was a reason they left the city. Something about everyone's mental health, about needing space and time or whatever vague excuse Donnie told him each time he asked.

There was a small town not far from where they lived, maybe a twenty minute walk or so, and five minutes if they rode horseback. Oh yeah, didn't I mention? They bought a farm. Yeah, They bought a plot of land that was just outside a small town, fixed the place up, and since Donnie loves plants and Mikey loves animals it seemed fitting to start trying to grow things and really leaning into the towns rustic aesthetic. Who knew they had green thumbs.. Well… Fuck okay who knew they had metaphorical green thumbs- And would be oddly good farmers?? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, after the first two years things really took off for the brothers. And cause I can read your mind, don't worry, Aprils there too, she got a job working at the local news station, her and Mayhem easily became a hit. And Casey Jr came along, and Cass, hell even Barry decided he might as well tag along and make sure the brothers don't get into anymore weird time altering shenanigan's. And after Splinter.. Passed, it helped having everyone be there with them. Leo looked back up at the sky, trying to read the clouds to see if there was any sign of rain, maybe if he could convince the others.. They'd let him go into town for a bit, they needed food soon anyway right?

Oh yeah, second thing about this story. This is one where Leo lost his arm, yeah no, when Mikey pulled him from the prison dimension Kraang was just a little faster and dug his claws into Leo's arm, tearing it from his body as Mikey rushed to close the portal and save what was left of his brother. So yeah, most of the time he spent healing from that is just a blurred mess to him now, then he woke up in the turtle tank out in the country one day. He remembers people by his bedside in the medbay talking about it, asking Leo or trying to ask how he felt, if he wanted to go anywhere, if there was anything he wanted to do outside the city. Anytime it's brought up he's always teased about how he only said things like "I wanna be a cowboy baaabyyyy" or "I just wanna live on a ranch, and sit on a porch swing, with my boyfriend.." (He did not have a boyfriend, or know anyone who could even come close at the time) So they continued to poke fun at his responses, which he blames the pain medicine he was on at the time for.

Leo sighed a little as he sat on the old wooden stairs, rolling his eyes at the audible creek that came from the shift in weight. He took the very cowboy-esk hat from his head waving it in front of his face, trying to get a little more of a breeze to cool him off. He'd just been out moving the pipes Donnie ordered to make he's own watering system for the plants, he wanted to start a new patch on the other side of the house and Leo just knew he'd be bribed into doing all the dirty work somehow.. Though he'd do it if asked, he knew that something bad happened to all his brothers before they moved that left them all a little less able then they used to be. For Donnie his back got hurt badly, most days he was fine but some days he'd get these real bad flare ups and he couldn't put any weight on his back or be on his feet for more then maybe fifteen minutes at a time. Leo liked to call it his "No Bones" days, since he'd usually end up just rag doll-ing in his bed all day. It was actually pretty scary the first few times it happened, Leo wasn't sure why everyone else was so calm that his brother couldn't move. But after a while and a couple explanations he didn't fully understand he came to accept that for Dee it's just something that happens when he overworks himself.. For Raph he lost sight in one of his eyes and hates being snuck up on, there were scars over the eye but they didn't look like any animal Leo had ever seen, he didn't ask though. He knew he didn't like talking about it, none of his brothers did really. Even Mikey, who was an open book all other times.. He had some faint scars from his hands up his forearms, and if he used his hands too much they'd start shaking or locking up, he always blames him drawing too much when he was younger but Leo knew deep down there was something else he just wasn't saying. But like any other time Leo was able to quickly shake those thoughts from his mind, it wasn't important and if they didn't want to talk, then he didn't want to know. He knew enough, and knew prying would only hurt them in the end.

He turned his head to look at the front door hearing the screen door swing open, "Hey Leo, you finally had enough of tha' heat?" Leo put his hat back on and smiled up at his oldest brother, "You could say that- Think if I asked Mike would be willin' to make us some lemonade?" Raph's eyes lit up as he weighed the options for a moment, food always got his big brother motivated and Mikey always made the best lemonade..

Leo let out a little laugh at his brothers reaction, "Though if we're gonna have a drink I s'pose we'd need to head into town to get the lemons don't we..?" Raph tensed up a bit hearing the mention of town. Compared to New York this town was more like a small village- It was like something straight out of a western movie it seemed. Raph let out a little grumble, muttering something about town and Leo just laughed again, giving Raph a reassuring pat on the lower half of his shell. "Oh c'mon big guy, it'll take all of forty minutes to get in, out, and back home." Raph carefully passed Leo on the stairs, once again weighing his options. "Raph..?" Leo asked, a little softer, "I know I shouldn't keep askin, but why don't you guys like goin' into town? Seems like y'all lock up whenever it's mentioned but I can't recall the reason."

"Its.." There was a pause, maybe he was trying to think about his words so he didn't sound like he was yelling at Leo. "It's nothin' really, if you wanna go, we'll go. Saddle up an I'll give Don the heads up that we're goin for a ride." Leo practically jumped up to get ready, "Are you sure we wanna tell Don? If he knows you're goin he'll send you off with a whole grocery list to bring back-" Raph shrugged, "If we're goin' we might as well make sure we get all we need, 'sides, Don ain't feelin well again so it might be good to bring him back some more medicine." Leo glanced back at the house, up to the second story where Dee's room was, "He havin' one of his 'no bones' days?" Raph rolled his eyes at the name but nodded, "Yeah, just one of those days. Now go on and get saddled up while I run in and get some money and everyone's orders." Leo gave a playful salute and a 'yes sir!' before heading around to the barn where the horses we're kept. He gave each one a little attention as he passed, Donnie's being an all black horse of course, Mikey's being some kind of calico with all matter of spots and specks decorating its coat, and Raph's was a big ass Belgian draft horse with a dark grey coat that faded to black at the feet. And Leo's, it was this blonde almost iridescent light color. "Well hey there sunshine" He cooed as he opened her gate, stepping and and getting ready to head out, "Looks like we're goin' for a ride today, a real one, not just round the house. You excited?" The horse turned her head nudging Leo and almost knocking him over, he laughed as he gently pushed her back, "I know I know, I told Raphie we need to take y'all out more but he don't want me goin into town alone, don't think he wants me goin anywhere alone actually-" After he was all set he took her lead and walked out of the barn, nearly bumping into Raph on their way out.

Once they were both set they headed out, Leo riding up and around roads, goin as fast as his Sunshine would let him, she liked going fast too, part of why he was able to get her at all. Her last owner couldn't get her to calm down or stop running off or throwing anyone who tried to ride her. Leo pretty quickly figured she just lived a bit faster then others, just like him. So he'd made a bet that if he could ride her without being thrown he'd get a big discount. Instead of trying to get her on his level he got onto hers, encouraging her to run and jump to her hearts content, and they've gotten along pretty damn well since then. Once they got into town went and hopped off his horse, not bothering to tie her up unlike Raph and his gentle giant, who he carefully tied up at a post outside the local grocery store, pulling a few treats from his bag and setting them down. "Good girl Boots" He muttered with a little pat before heading into the store, Leo trailing behind. They browsed for a few minutes, well, Leo did, Raph just picked what they needed and only that. Going right to the sections that had what he needed, he really didn't want to be there longer then they needed to be it seemed.. Leo rolled his eyes and tosses a lemon his way, "Heads up Raphie-!"

The lemon bonked the side of Raph's head and fell into his basket, he turned to Leo with an unamused expression, Leo braced to be yelled at, to be scolded like they would when they were younger, maybe even a playful slap on the back of his head for being impolite at the store. But Raph just took a breath and sighed, picking a couple apples up and setting them in the basket next to the lemon. Leo pouted a little but let it go, it wasn't like he wanted to be yelled at, but it didn't feel right for them to not even fight playfully? He huffed and set another dozen or so into the basket and gave Raph a little shoulder pat, "I'm gonna go wait outside okay? Make sure Sunny ain't found any trouble." Raph just nodded, seemly he was almost done, the basket was already full but he was still looking for a few more things.

Leo stepped outside, a few people had paused to eye his horse, ones that pretty were usually pretty expensive so it made sense people would look at her. He whistled and she perked up, heading over and lowering one front leg to look like she was bowing, he was pretty proud of teaching her that trick.. Het gave her a few pats and praises and grabbed his bag off her side, reaching and getting out a sugar cube, "There we are, I knew I had one left in here. Whos a good girl? Hm?" "She sure is-" Leo turned around to see another yokai approach him, he hadn't seen this guy around but he sure looked familiar..? "Never seen one that well behaved before.. Your horse must've cost a pretty penny but you don't look the fancy type?" Was.. Was this guy saying he looked poor..? "Sunny here ain't no ones horse-" He joked, giving her a few more pats, "Ain't that right Sunshine? You don't belong to no man huh?" She flapped her lips blowing out a huff as she shook her head, turning to nudge Leo. He just laughed a little louder, "Yes mam, you're as free as the breeze ain't cha? You just follow me home for the treats huh?" The stranger smiled a little, he took half a step closer then stopped, "Is it alright if I pet her? Think she'll let me keep my hands?" Leo just shrugged like he wasn't sure but quickly nodded, "I'm just messin- Yeah you can pet her, she loves the attention don't worry." He nodded and stepped closer again, getting into her line of sight and carefully approaching. Leo took a step back and watched in the interaction, whoever this guy was he seemed to know a lot about horses with a temper, and she seemed to like him well enough.. He took his hat off setting is on his saddle to feel the coming breeze. Sunshine turned to look at him before turning back to the stranger and biting the brim of his hat, lifting it off his head and turning to put it on Leo. The yokai was a bit shorter than Leo, and without the hat long white ears fell on either side of his head, it was a rabbit yokai- Kinda cute actually... Not many of those in such hot and dry places like this town. Their eyes met for a moment before Leo realized he was staring at the stranger, "Ah- Sorry 'bout that, she got that lil trick from my little brother-" He took the hat back off and gently set it back on the guys head, "Think that mean's she likes ya heheh- Uh- Say stranger.. You got a name to go with that face?"

"Y-Yeah, sorry, where are my manners.. I'm Yuichi. Yuichi Usagi." Leo stuck his good arm out to shake his hand, "Leo. Leonardo Hamato. Pleased to meet cha."

"Hamato..? Like.. The Hamato brothers?" Leo perked up a little, "Oh? We got a name 'round here or somethin'..?" Yuichi shook his head, "No no, just.. You guys were a big thing back home, everyone in my village knew about you guys savin' people. Didn't expect to find you all the way out here is all." Leo looked a little confused, it'd been a handful of years before he'd done anything heroic.. But people still talked about them? That was kind of cool… Raph came out of the store and started putting his stuff away in the pouches strapped to his saddle. "Well Yuichi, it was a pleasure meeting' you. Not sure how long you plan to be here but if you need anythin' we live just down the road here up on brasshill." He picked his bag back up fastening it and hopping up. Yuichi looked surprised, "Wait- Brasshill? I'm stayin' with my auntie who lives on that road. She's also a rabbit. Leo gasped, "You're related to Nonanoka??? Dude! She's the best! Oh y'all gotta come over sometime then, we'll have a nice get together, tell her Leon's got somethin for her when you see her alright? Shes got our line if you ever need us." Yuichi nodded a little and gave them a little wave as they headed off towards the end of town, fixing the hat on his head and stuffing his ears back into it to get them out of the way.

Once they were back home Raph carried everything inside while Leo took the horses back to their stables, then headed inside once they were back safe. He opened the door being met with Mikey coming down the stairs, he must've heard Raph come in and wanted to see what all they got. "Heya mike" He said giving his hat a little wave before he hung it up, "Leoooo! You're back already??"

"Yeah, Raphie was in a bit of a rush I guess, he never likes to take long you know that" Mikey nodded a little and gave Leo a quick hug, "Well when you get everythin' put away I wanna go for a ride too!" Leo gave Mikey's shell a little pat, "As long as the suns out and Raphie don't mind stayin' with Don. I think he can be bribed though" He gave Mikey a little wink and moved his head to gesture to the kitchen where Raph was emptying the two big bags of food. Mikey peeked past Leo to see the fruit basket on the table now full of lemons and oranges. His eyes lit up as he got an idea, by now Leo was pretty good at getting Mikey to have ideas he thinks are original despite Leo being the one to plant the idea in his head. Mikey slowly walked into the kitchen with his hands behind his back as if he was hiding something, "Heya Raphie, how was the store? Y'all have a good time?" Raph glanced over to him and shrugged, "As good as going into town gets I guess, Leo made a friend I think, the nephew of nona-"

"Nonanoka has relatives in the sates? I thought she said all her family was back in Japan??"

"Must be vistin' or somethin, seemed nice enough tho.." Mikey scooted over climbing onto Raph's back to peer over his shoulder, "Ooooo, we outta bake nona somethin' maybe a pie? We do have a buncha apples now…"

"That's a good idea Mike" Leo said as he sat at the table, he reached for his satchel but then it moved- Everyone's eyes turned to look at the bag, "That- Wasn't just me right?" Leo asked hesitantly, both Raph and Mikey shook their heads as they watched the bag. Leo felt an odd sense, it wasn't dread, he didn't get a bad feeling, but something was making his anxiety go off the charts- He took a deep breath and slowly opened the bag,

"Mew!"

Leos eyes widened as a small kitten, maybe the size of Leos hand, wobbled out of his bag. It was orange with lighter colored stripes. It looked up at Leo and mewed again, tilting its head a little and glancing around to the others. Raphs eyes grew at least ten times seeing that little cat look his way, "Leo- How in the- Where do you even get a cat??"

"I didn't?? I don't- I didn't go anywhere-!" He slowly reached his hand out and pet the cat, it leaned into his hand starting to purr, "I mean I set my bag down to say hi to the new guy- Maybe this lil guy smelled somethin sweet and snuck in..? There are a few strays in that town…"

"Well- Put it back-!"

"Raph!! I'm surprised at you! Look at this sweet lil thing-" Mikey carefully picked the cat up to inspect it after getting off Raph's back, "Hey there lil one, you hitched a ride with the right guy, we'll take good care a' you.." Raph sighed a little, he was too tired for this and knew it was a loosing argument trying to talk them out of keeping the cat. "If we keep her we'll need to go stock up on food, and a bed, and a litter box n litter and a collar- It's a lot of work and on top of runnin' the farm and all out other animals-"

"Her?" Leo asked, Raph nodded, "Yeah can't ya tell she's a girl? She's a month old, maybe a month n a half- What? Why are y'all lookin' at me like that-? I like animals alright? Just- Make sure she don't get outside before we get a collar on her… I'm gonna go bring Dee some food before I start cleanin' up for the night." Leo nodded and looked back at the kitten, "She's so cute- How'd a miss somethin' that sweet sneakin' into my bag hahah.. She's gonna need a name too... Hmm" Mikey set her back on the table, "Let's see... Pumpkin? Cause she's orange? Or... Cinnamon?" "That might be a good name for a horse but she's a much lighter orange.. This lil lady needs a real good name.." "Maybe a snack will help us come up with somethin good! I've been cravin a toasted PB&J, you want one?" Leo chuckled as he was playing with the kitten, "Yeah, make it two if ya would" "Yessir! You want strawberry, marmalade or elderberry jam?" Leo perked up a little, "Wait, say that again.." "Uh.. You want strawberry, marmalade or elderberry jam?" "Marmalade..?" He looked over at the open cabinet, the jar Mikey pulled was filled with a light orange color, he looked back down the to cat, "Marmalade?" She tilted her head a little, it got her attention it seems. "So that's the one you want? ...Leo..? Leeoooo?" He snapped back to reality (ope there goes gravity) and nodded. "Yeah.. I think that's perfect."

[milkytheholy1]

I absolutely love your writings!!

I was wondering if you could do a ROTTMNT leo x reader where they're hanging out with the others (leos brothers and April) and they're having a snowball fight and Leo and the reader go against each other and they accidentally collide and roll. Leo makes sure that the reader ends on top of him so the reader doesn't get hurt and he notices how cute they are with snow in their hair ❤❤

A/N: Wanted to get this out before Christmas but I've ended up writing it on Christmas Eve so sorry about that, think of it as my Christmas present to you XD Hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and a happy new year!

Snow Day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Haha! You'll never catch me D!" April yelled, running through the snow in Central Park. Following closely behind her was Donnie, wrapped in his winter clothes holding a snowball in each hand "Oh you think you can outrun me? I grew up with three brothers!"

Mikey and Raph were preparing to build a snowman, unlike last year when they built Jupiter Jim, this time they had decided to build a scale replica of their father, Splinter. Mikey was sculpting the head while Raph ran around smashing together as much snow as he could to form a base.

"Oh mi gosh, pops is going to love this! It looks just like him!" Mikey cheered, admiring his work. He held the head of Lou Jitsu in his lap, his fingers digging into the snow to form a nose "Well if we can get him out into the snow that is." Raph stated, reaching over to grab Mikey. Mikey carefully placed the head on top of the body Raph had been working on, Raph's hands shaking due to the cold as he lifted Mikey up.

Standing back to admire their work, hands on their hips, they fist-bumped each other. Mikey's hands rushed up to his face as his mouth fell agape "It's perfect," he whispered, his eyes twinkling.

"Watch out!" Leo shouted from the distance, moving their gaze behind the snow Jitsu, Mikey and Raph began screaming quickly running to protect their creation. Viciously waving their hands in a panicked motion, they watched as you and Leo came crashing down towards them on your sledge. "Nonononononon-" Mikey and Raph screeched as they collided with you.

Mikey watched in pain as snow flew around them, Lou Jitsu's snow-head seemingly falling in slow motion before it finally crashed down onto the ground, immediately crumbling due to the pressure. Raph glared at you both as your heads finally came up above the snowy remains of Lou Jitsu, Mikey held what was left of the head, tears slipping down his frosty cheeks.

"Ah man, that was amazing! Did you see how fast we were going?" Leo laughed, shaking the snow out from his hat. You chuckled along with him, pulling your boot-covered foot from the pile "Yeah, we picked up so much speed so quickly! Hey, what's this?" you asked, your finger pointing to the crumbled pile of snow cradled in Mikey's hands.

"D-daddy!" Mikey cried out, his tears freezing when they touched the soft blanket of snow. You, Leo and Raph all looked at each other, clearly worried for the box-turtle. Leo went to his younger brother, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as he knelt to be level with him, "heeey, Mike you know that's not really dad, right?"

Mikey continued to sniff and wipe his tears away, his gaze still on the pile of snow "I know," he whispered, his head slowly turning to Leo "Doesn't mean I can't get revenge for his death!" Mikey shouted, his pupils dilating in rage. Jumping up from his knees, Mikey threw snowball after snowball at the red-eared slider taking no mercy. Leo yelped quickly huddling behind you, but the onslaught till persisted on.

"Run!" you yelled, promptly taking cover behind some of the trees dotted around the park. Leo faced opposite you, his head peeking out every now and then for his psycho of a brother.

"Psssst" you whipped your head around, trying to find the source of the sound. "Pssssst" you looked to Leo, but he was too busy looking for Mikey and Raph. Finally, your gaze landed on a large rock, tracing it with your eyes you saw April huddled closely behind it, a snowball in her hand. Giving you an amused smirk, she hushed her voice to a whisper "Whatta you guys doing here?"

"Hiding from Mikey and Raph, we kinda destroyed their snowman." you rubbed the back of your neck out of guilt, April let out a small chuckle. Turning your attention back to her, you noticed the slight shake to her hands "Whatta 'bout you?"

"Me and Donnie are at war." Was the only reply you got, suddenly metal arms appeared from behind a tree, a snowball in each claw, your face dropped in fear. April dropped the small ball of snow in her hands, her mouth agape "Oh no." she breathed out.

Quickly ducking under the gunshots of snow, you failed to notice that Mikey and Raph were hastily approaching from behind Donnie. Leo had grabbed your hand pulling you along with him as you began to falter. Too busy looking behind you at the figures chasing you, Leo went straight over the hilltop his sudden yelp bringing you back to reality. Watching in horror as he went straight over, your eyes trailing up to where your hands were joined.

Swearing to yourself, you felt your feet take off from the ground and your face collide with the cold, wet substance known as snow. Tumbling down the hillside, Leo clutched you to his chest in his best effort to protect you. Grumbling in pain when you both rolled into a small thorn bush or twigs, you finally whirled to a stop at the bottom. Gently looking up you were meet with Leo's face, your cheeks blushed as you took in his form.

His eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily, the smallest amount of snow was on his beak making you giggle. Leaning up a little more, you noticed your bodies were tangled together, your hands and chest pushed against his clothed-plastron. By now your face was as bright as the stripes that marked his eyes.

Gentle groaning caught your ears, turning your head back to the turtle beneath you, your breath got caught in your throat. Leo's eyes were blinking up at you, a content smile on his lips "Come here often?" he asked in a suave manner. You could feel the tips of your ears tingling with heat, refusing to speak in case it came out jumbled you just sent him an innocent smile.

"What? Gone shy on me now?" he teased, laughing a little more, you bumped your forehead against his chest so he couldn't see your embarrassed face. You could feel his chest rumble and shake with laughter, his breathing calming down under your touch. Neither of you had made any attempt to move, you were both blissfully unaware of how content each other was.

"Sorry I dragged you down here with me, but there was snow-way out of that war." Looking up you saw that cocky smile, he was too proud of that. Finally opening your mouth to speak you gave him a taste of his own medicine "In order for your winter puns to be successful, you have to snow your audience." Leo burst out laughing, soon initiating a pun war.

"With great powder comes great responsibility."

"I know you're a winter fan, it takes one to snow one!"

"If you cross a bee and a lizard, you'll get a blizzard!"

"We've reached the point of snow return"

"Oh ho ho, that was a good one." he chuckled, your laughter filtering through his boisterous laugh. Too distracted by your puns, Leo's eyes roamed over your face taking in every slight detail he'd never noticed before. From the light freckles that littered your nose and cheeks, to the slight twinkle in your (e/c) eyes from the setting sun. God, you were beautiful.

Leo gingerly placed a hand to your cheek, you laughter cutting off with a soft gasp, his fingers gently played with the loose strands of your hair twirling the pieces around with such care. White specks littered your (h/c) hair, fallen snow that was collected on your journey down the hill. Your eyes never left his face, in awe of what he was doing and how delicately he was touching you.

"You look so cute with snow in your hair," he whispered, his breath fanning over your lips. "T-t-thank you." you managed to stutter out, dazed. You both perked up when you could hear cheers and shouts coming from the hilltop, turning your attention away from Leo under you, you saw the distant figures of the boys and April waving down to you.

In a panic you harshly pushed yourself off of Leo, collapsing onto the snow. The gang slid down the hill coming to a stop next to you, Raph offered a hand out to Leo heaving him up with ease. "We were looking everywhere for you guys," April stated, pulling you off of the ground. Your cheeks felt warm "Well you found us..." you mumbled.

"What were you guys doing down here anyway?" Donnie asked, you and Leo both shouted "Nothing!" blushing a dark red, Donnie's brows furrowed. He let it go, wanting to get out of the cold and back to the comfort of his lab. Heading back to the lair, you and April walked a bit further back from the boys. April looked at you, her smile taking up her whole face "Sooo~" you raised a brow at her in question "Oh come on! What happened on that hill with you and Leo?"

"There's snow way I'm telling you." you mused. April pouted "Oh please tell me you didn't get that from him." you shrugged your shoulders. Turning your head forward, you caught Leo's gaze he cheekily winked at you then turned back and continued talking to Raph, your cheeks becoming rosy and warm in the wintery air.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!!

[memes-in-a-half-shell]

Business AU - Working Late, Part 5

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Sorry for the wait, I had a nightmarish week.... I won’t let this little fic die 💜 I can’t wait to write more about it, even though the chapters are hella short xD

She couldn’t deny the butterflies in her stomach. That evening with Donnie have had that je-ne-sais-quoi that made her smile mindlessly whenever she’d think about it. It’s been a while since she last felt like that...

On Thursday they barely had time to have any conversation, only to have their next interaction postponed to Friday - a single day without talking to him almost feeling like an entire week... Vee was going on and about from one corner of the office to the other, handing a pile of documents to various departments, until she passed before Donnie’s office. The door was wide open, giving him a chance to see her walk by. His reaction had been almost immediate, jumping on his feet and going straight to the door frame.

“Vee!”

The woman stopped in her tracks, looking in his direction with a surprised look. They were both frozen for a moment, speech a meaningless thing right at that moment... Donnie tried to redeem himself, quickly clearing his throat and straightening his posture.

“Need help?” he asked, gesturing the documents Vee was holding.

Her lips parted in a small “o”, glancing at her burden and then back at the mutant.

“... Are you sure you want to help me with that? Don’t you have important boss things to do?”

“I’m already done for the day,” he answered instantly.

He approached Vee, lowering his voice.

“Please, I need to look busy, or else Leo will drop more work on me. I don’t want to get something dumped on me that might interfere with my other plans.”

“Which are?” asked Vee, her voice a whisper as well, entering the game.

“As soon as he’s out of here, I’m jumping back to the Lowline drawing board. He considers it low priority for now, so he doesn’t really like when I get some work done on it while we have other more urgent projects in the works.”

Vee parted her pile in two, dumping some files in his hands.

“Follow me then, boss,” she smiled with a quick wink.

As both were on the move, Donnie couldn’t help looking at the woman once more, amused as he noticed:

“Looks like we broke the curse,” he started. “We’re not wearing the same colored clothes anymore!”

Vee was wearing a black shirt that had a pattern of colorful, jungle type leaves, the bottom of it tucked in her jeans. Her relaxed look was completed by her teal hair tied up in a messy bun. Meanwhile Donnie rather simple with a white shirt, an unevenly striped black and white tie, and beige pants.

“Huh! Beige suits you,” noted Vee, observing him as well.

“Wearing those clothes can be a challenge sometimes. Pale clothes are a nightmare whenever you do anything. I’m always so scared that I’ll spill anything on them.”

“Right?!” agreed the woman. “It can be such a nightmare. Imagine white pants! I’d be so scared to sit anywhere anytime!”

Small laughters were exchanged, the duo still walking. Their task was easily embellished with small talk of various subjects, Vee’s day suddenly brigthened by Donnie’s presence. All was good and she couldn’t be ever more grateful for any seconds spent with him...

***

As the rest of the day passed, Donnie thankfully avoiding any tasks from his older brother, people were starting to leave the office, this being the duo’s cue for their project. As Vee had a better understanding of the Lowline’s needs, she was able to provide better feedback about how to approach the plans and drawings, actively pointing whenever Donnie was doing something wrong and the woman simply grabbing a pencil, adding her touch here and there. She didn’t give a second thought about standing close to the mutant, her focus primarly on the drawing. She could sense Donnie’s gaze on her though, the turtle enamored with her work. He was truly open to her comments and loved to get the conversation going about how to proceed, appreciating her knowledge. They worked well together. ... So well that they didn’t see time pass and soon it was almost past eight in the evening. Exiting the small room in which the drawing board was in, they noticed rain starting to fall outside, the mutant then offering to drive the woman back home - to Vee’s greatest relief.

New York was restless. Even in the late hours of the night, it was still booming with life in certain areas, never a dull moment to be had. Vee loved looking at all the lights coloring the streets, the slight start of rain amplifying their shimmering on the pavement like an ephemeral oil painting. The vehicle's motion was creating a kaleidoscope of colors inside the SUV, slowly fading as the pair was rolling away from the busy streets to a somewhat calmer part of town. As Donnie parked near a sidewalk, the rain amplified, the drops drumming against the car's body. He wasn't close to Vee's apartment building, so the woman knew that if she were to step outside, she'd be soaking wet in no time.

“If you don't mind,” she started, looking over to the terrapin. “Can I wait in here for little while? I'm guessing this strong pour will stop at some point, they always do....”

Donnie gently smiled.

“They do indeed, and I don't mind at all,” he answered.

They paused, listening to the rain. This comfortable silence allowed Donnie to gather his thoughts, finally speaking up after a while:

“… It's rather nice, don't you think?”

“The ambient sound?” questionned Vee.

Donnie conceeded, while also adding: “Sure, it's calming. … But I just kept thinking; it's also nice to be here with you. It's nice that we seem to get along so well...”

Vee was suddenly speechless, her heart thundering in her ears. She tried to boot her thoughts back to her brain, tucking some strands of hair away.

“I- … yeah. It's nice.”

She felt his hand hold her left one, his touch soft as he brushed his thumb on her skin. “… I'm sorry, I'm making you uncomfortable,” he said.

“No!” reassured Vee. “No please, I... I simply wonder if this is right?”

She had said that last part with uncertainty, afraid she'd say something wrong.

"And what is 'this'?” questionned the terrapin, remaining calm.

Vee threw him an unimpressed look, getting a chuckle out of the male in return.

“Don't play this game with me, Donnie,” she said. “We're adults. I know flirting when I see it. … I just don't want it to be ill-intentioned on your part.”

His eyes grew wide, a slight distress felt in the air.

“I would never!” he added. “… To be frank, I'm not really used to flirting, so I'm sorry if I'm giving weird vibes.”

“Are you kidding?” lightly laughed Vee. “You make me blush so often, it might become permanent at some point.”

She brought her other hand to his, now properly holding him, simply to bring weight to her words:

“You've made me feel alive ever since we properly met... I simply feel happy, but considering our positions at work, that's why I'm asking if this is right? … I wouldn't want to dive too deep into this simply to drown...”

“People may say what they want, but I think as long as we remain professional, there's no harm?”

Their eyes met, trying to guess the right answer through unspoken words. As the rain was still gaining in strength, the loud pitter-patter seemed to break any barriers, Donnie gaining further courage to speak again:

“You're a beautiful and interesting woman, Vee. Just thinking about you makes me feel warm and I can't stop smiling... I realize that's a bit bold to lay out, but just as you said: we're adults. And I don't see why I should hide the fact that you're bringing me joy lately.”

Vee felt her heart melt, her hands slightly squeezing his. A faint sigh left her as she attempted to cling to reason:

“Let us see where things go from now on. … I think we need to rest our heads on this before anything else. … I appreciate you a lot, Donnie, I do. But right now we need to learn how to walk together before we sprint to any outcome.”

“I agree,” smiled the turtle. ‘’There’s no rush indeed. ... I like any moments spent with you.”

This moment felt so surreal all of a sudden. To openly express such feelings out in the open indeed was bold, from both of them, but it just felt so right. As a sign of fate, the rain was calming down, thus being the cue for Vee to head out and get home.  She wanted to stay here. She wanted to feel his presence and hear more about how he felt, but at the same time she wanted to stay true to her words.

“Well ... I guess this is time for me to go,” she said.

“Are you busy tomorrow night?”

That question surprised her at first.

“What now, I have to lay out my entire schedule to you?” she joked.

“Not really,” grinned Donnie. “But how about a date? That way we shall see how things unfold from now on.”

That caught her slightly off guard, but knowing she had thrown somehow the idea on their last evening out, she knew it was bound to happen.

“How could I ever decline?” she said, smiling. “... I’d like that very much.”

Donnie brought one of her hands up, leaving a soft kiss on top of it.

“Then you make me a very happy man.”

((Part 6))

[undercoverwizardfanfiction]

A Winter Night: A ROTTMNT Holiday story

Rating:G

Word Count;2358

for: @snakeeyesdraws

Characters: Donnie, Leo, Kendra

pairings: [takes breath, pulls out sword] LISTEN

update; i accidentally uploaded the draft the first time ^^’ i fixed though this is the finished version

An overtly saturated neon sign of a Santa selling sandals catches him in the corner of his eye. He uses his forearm to protect his aching eyes as he passed the sign. When he passes the blinding neon of Santa, the turtle takes a deep breath, a soft mist escaping his mouth. Honestly, he is grateful the streets aren’t more crowded. But not for his slowly numbing hands. He stuffs his hands into his unlined pockets and moves forward. Grateful more than ever that he had updated Shelldon with a heating unit so he didn’t have to weigh himself down with a heavy coat. It was making the walk to Hueso’s a bit more tolerable. He’d have to remember to update his brothers’ gear to include a heating unit like his. Course knowing them they’d probably use it to heat up marshmallows in their pockets and that was a mess he was NOT going to clean up for-

He is so wrapped up in the nightmarish scenario of having to clean marshmallows out of circuitry when a loud shriek of anger followed by a trash can flying past his line of vision causes him to jump on one foot with a shriek of fear

“Stupid AIDEN!!”

It takes Donnie a moment, and another trash can flying by his vision to realize he is not the source of anger, or in danger. He blinks and peers down the alley before having to duck in time for another trashcan to get stomped in the middle with enough strength to crunch it in half before, in a mixture of amazement he blinks. “Kendra?”

In a feral rage Kendra stomps a trashcan nearly in half before swerving around and glaring at him snarling. Her thick purple hair twisted in half ragged tangles, her beret lay on the ground as though she had thrown it to the ground before deciding that wasn’t enough to help vent her rage. Her half-crazed eyes narrowed at him. “What do YOU want?!” she bites and for a moment Donnie wishes he hadn’t stopped, “Are you here to ruin my day again?! Wreck my plans?!”

“Um,” Don blames his lack of ability to come up with a snappy come back on his even more urgent need to survive the next five seconds, or at least not end up like that trashcan. ”Are you doing something that should be stopped?”

Kendra narrows her eyes at him. “NO.”

“Do you HAVE an evil plan that I should stop? Again?”  With a snarl Don worries he might have said the wrong thing.

But then she lets out an angry sigh, “No, not now.”

“Um.” He really didn’t want to end up a Donnie shaped hole in the wall, “Then, no?”

Kendra narrows her eyes at him, Donnie could barely see the little puffs of steam burst out of her nose like a bull trying to figure out if he was a matador worth charging. But then she lets out an angry growl, ”Fine, go away then,” she says, crouching down and yanking the trash can back into a standing position kicking at it a few more times to try and un-dent it. Donnie glances back at the trash cans in the road and sighs. He pulled off his gloves, cursing the fact that he didn’t bring any extra rubber gloves, and pulls one of the trash cans off the street. Kendra glares up at him before eyeing the trashcan in confusion, “What do you want?”

“To not see cars hit trash cans? Is that supposed to be a hard question?” he asks, again berating himself when Kendra narrows her eyes at him, but lets him stand his trash can next to the one she had ‘undented’, she doesn’t thank him when he drags by the other one too. But to be honest he doesn’t really expect it. But he does finally notice that, even though she traded out her leggings for sweatpants, she’s lacking her purple dragons' jacket and is wearing a dark grey sweater and boots. All signs indicated she had not been planning on being outside in December and is using all the anger she had been trying out on the trash cans to not shiver, “Where are you going?”

“What’s it to you?” she demands.

Donnie raises his hands in mock surrender. “Honestly? I was just trying to help but if you’re going to keep acting like a jerk, I’ll-“ he wasn’t sure how he was going to finish that thought. ‘Walk away?’ ‘Blog about it angrily later?’ But it ended with someone shouting ‘heads up’ and something hard slamming into the back of his head, his vision exploding in bright colors and the breaking of a snowball contacting with his head. Off balance he finds his world spinning and himself on his knees, hands holding his head trying to make sense of the pain and his disorientation.

“Hey!” Kendra’s voice was far away, but that could be ‘cause she had stormed over to yell at the kids who had thrown the snow ball. “The hells your problem?! That was basically an ice ball you weebs.” Don could barely make out their mumbled sheepish apology. He pulls off his hat and touched the soaking bandana underneath. Any hope that it had just been snow went out the window when he drew his bloody fingers off his head.

“Holy-“ Sounds like Kendra was back, his vision was spinning so bad that he assumed the spinning purple mass by his side was her. “Hey how many fingers am I holding up?!” she said holding out her hand. He could barely make out her fingers but gave a weak, “Four?” with strength surprising for someone her size, she took his arm and lifted him to his feet, pulling his arm over her neck, “Come on there’s a hospital nearby-“

“NO,” he answers quickly.

“Are you kidding me you’re HEAD is BLEEDING.”

“And I'm a giant talking turtle which do you think will matter more to a hospital staff?!” He often wondered how Yokai managed in the city without access to a hospital. He had been meaning to ask Hueso about-. He blinks, there was no way he could let Kendra take him home. But he was already close to the pizza place “I have a place I can go. But you can’t go with me-“

“Again, your HEAD is BLEEDING,” she snaps. “I’ll take you where you need to go but I won't get any closer got it?” Donnie knew she wouldn’t take no for answer and only answered with a sigh and a nod. She pulls harder on the arm wraps over her neck and took more of his weight. Despite their height difference he barely touches the ground which only added more to the feeling of being disoriented.

“Thanks,” he muttered weakly.

“Don’t thank me til we get there.”  Donnie struggles to keep his eyes open but his swirling vision forces him to keep his eyes closed, a hand slaps his face lightly. “Hey stay awake nerd.”

“Pot calling the kettle-“ Donnie bit off the end of his statement as he tried not to dry heave. He could feel Kendras frozen bare arms through his coat and feels even worse for being out in the first place. “H-Hold on,” he says, stiffening his legs up to drag her to a stop. He manages to pry her arm off him long enough to peel his coat off leaving him in his long sleeved dark pink Atomic Lass shirt. “You’re obviously cold.” As callous as he is sometimes, he finds it’s better to be honest than to dance around the subject, “Shelldon has a heating unit that’ll keep me warm.” Though it wouldn’t help his arms, he could handle a few blocks though. Thankfully his vision is returning to some extent, enough that he notices Kendra looking to his pack and for a moment Don struggles not to shift to put the pack out of her sight, “That’s Shelly right? Is he still mad at me for tricking him?”

“Oh definitely. He has a stack of crayon drawings dedicated to his revenge on you.” He feels the shoulders on his back tighten as though Shelldon was reprimanding him for revealing his secret plans.

Kendra lets off a small shrug “Yeah fair enough, I’d probably do the same thing” before smirking directionally at the pack, ”But for the record little buddy, blue prints are a much better way to plot out revenge.”

Don tries to grin before dizziness settles in again. Kendra must have noticed since she ducked under his arm. “Hold on nerd, keep talking to me.”

He manages a nod, mentally keeping track of their location. “Wh-what were you doing out here kicking trash cans?” he asked. “And who’s this Aiden guy who has you so mad? Not that it's any of my business, but I’m kinda hurt there’s someone out there you currently hate more than me,” he says with an added offended tone that makes her glare at him in confusion. ”I mean not to brag, but I sorta consider it a pride and joy to have an enemy worthy of my intelligence.”

Kendra narrows her eyes. “Please, he’s not worthy of my time,” she says through her teeth. “There’s this guy in the robotics club with us, Aiden. A loser who couldn’t tell a snickers from a soldering pen. There was a contest to submit the best blueprints, and who ever won would to be our project for the semester.”

“I’ve seen you build stuff on your own though. “

“That wasn’t the point,” Kendra lets out an angry huff, “I won, like I knew I was going to. But he got second place, I checked the points and he was twelve points away from wining. Twelve! The loser pretty boy who had his private tutor help him.”

“But you still won-“

“-He shouldn’t have gotten that close. I did all my work by myself. Didn’t ask for help, spent nights coding and drafting. I should have left him in the dust a broken swaddled nerd with broken dreams. But no. I made sure he knew how I felt about it, but the creep tattled on me. Freaking snowflake got freaked out because his blue prints ended up on his front porch on fire. Since when is that illegal.”

“I mean,” Don pauses, “I think always.”

“Anyway, I got kicked off the club and that’s why I'm out here.” She shrugs. “If my Dad or step mom saw me getting this mad then they’d make me do the ‘breathing exercises,’” she said with air quotations, “Being all ‘Kendra we’re worried about you’ ‘Kendra we love and support you we just don’t want to see you go down a bad path’ and ‘Kendra where do you keep getting access to all this fire!?’” Her frustrations forced her to kick out at a sign they passed but thankfully not hard enough to knock it over, “So as soon as I’m done helping you, I’m going to see my Mom. She’s the only one who gets me.”

Donnie blames his concussion on being so surprised Kendra had a mom but tried to keep it off his features. But judging by the quiet scoff from Kendra he hadn’t done a very good job, "How about you Greeny? Why did you come out here if you already had a concussion? Don’t pretend like you didn’t have one, I saw the bandages when I was checking your scalp. You already had a head injury before you got hit in the head.”

Figures his hat would blame him, and his own disorientation for forgetting that Kendra had checked his scalp. “It's complicated.”

“More complicated then plotting revenge on a spoiled white boy in a Vanilla Ice t-shirt?” she says in a tone that tells Donnie she’s trying to make a joke. And despite his best efforts not to, he snorts slightly, “No, I'll agree it’s not that complicated.” But it still feels weird to share with a certified enemy who once tried to steal the Spirit of Labour Day (don’t ask can’t explain). Thankfully she doesn’t rush him as he tries to collect his thoughts. “I got into an argument with my brother.” He still doesn’t want to let her in on too much information. “My brothers are all protective of each-other but he's’ protective in a way that makes me nuts. He thought it was too soon for me to go out with this whole situation,” he said gesturing to his head bandage, “And I disagreed. Except I didn’t really do it in the best way.”

“I think I know what that means,” Kendra says. “Did you say something bad?”

For a moment, it takes all of Don’s remaining mental energy to not think about Leo’s face, watching his concerned features fade away to one of hurt. So hurt in fact he hadn’t even called after Donnie when he stormed out. He lets out a sigh. “I did. I wish I had a reasonable excuse for it, but to be honest I don’t like feeling like I'm depending on people. I don’t like feeling like he’s always concerned about me. I especially don’t like him being right about it.”

“Sucks when it feels like you’re under-appreciated huh?”

“Yeah.” He could make out a familiar sandal store that housed Hueso’s alley. “We’re here,” he says.

Kendra looks around, and for a moment Donnie is concerned Kendra is going to insist on taking him ‘inside’ but she ducks from under shoulder. “You sure?” she asks, “I can take you further.”

“I’m good, thanks though.” He tries to give her a confident smile but his lips only twitch in response. She gives a half shrug before she starts pulling off his coat. “Keep it. You have a long way to walk and I still have Shelldon to keep me warm.”

“Thanks,” she says pulling the coat back on. “I’ll catch you later Greeny,” she says. She looks like she's’ about to walk off when she pauses. “But for the record, it still must be nice to have brothers who have your back.”

“It is.” Don nods. “And honestly Aiden sounds like a little bitch.”

For the first time since their strange encounter began Kendra put on a full smile. “Thanks,” she says before walking off.

(#)(#)\/(#)(#)

Leo didn’t snore.

So when his phone went off amongst his makeshift ‘pillow floor’ in the living room he did not ‘snort’ awake. He made a strangled noise before sitting up. Patting his sweatpants and hoody pockets before diving into the mass of pillows. Breaching a moment later like a whale with his phone in his teeth. Hueso’s ID is flashing across his screen. With a scoff he answers. “For the last time BONE man I don’t work today-“

“First of all, that is NOT how you politely answer a phone,” Hueso starts with a snap of his teeth. “Second that’s not why I'm calling. Your brother is here with me.”

Leo blinks, he blames his previous hibernated state on why it took him so long to remember which brother had left the lair. “Donnie? Is he ok?” he said already going to his room and looking for his sword under his bed.

“He is alright, but it looks like he got hit on the head pretty hard-“

That’s all it takes for him to charge out of his room, lingering only long enough to grab the toolbox he used for a first aid kit, and grabbing his portal sword from the kitchen (vaguely remembering he had used it to cut some cheese for his peanut butter and cheese grilled sandwich earlier) and slicing the sword down to activate a portal to Hueso’s office. Without saying bye, he hangs his phone up and jumps through.

The aforementioned skeleton, who had been glaring at his phone as though offended Leo had hung up on him, gave a shriek as the turtle appears by his side. “BAH! Leo, I hate it when you-“

Leo immediately tuned him out when he saw Donnie laying on Hueso’s couch with an ice pack over his forehead, he hurried forward and knelt down. “You ok buddy?” he asks.

Donnie looks up at him from under the ice pack with a weak smile. “I don’t know, are you really uglier than the last time I saw you or is that my head talking?”

Leo couldn’t help but grin. “I thought brain injuries were supposed to make people nicer,” he says. He turns to the toolbox and starts going through the first aid supplies inside. “Thanks for letting him rest. In your office,” he tells Hueso as he sets aside a pen light and some new bandages.

“Why wouldn’t I? Out of your brothers he’s most definitely my favorite.”

“Wait you have a favorite?” Leo looks to him. “Then who's your least favorite?”

After a pause, Hueso gives a wide and strained grin. “I will leave you two to it. If you need me just call me,” he says before ducking out quickly.  

It’s only then that Leo turns his barely contained worried energy on Donnie “What happened? Who did this? Do you have their address and sleep schedule-“

“Leo,” Don starts in a pained voice, “Please, my head feels like someone tried to split it with an ax. It was an accident. Some kids hit me in the head with a snow ball.“

Leo was about to start on another tirade of questions when he forced himself to take a deep breath, “Yeah, ok, I'm sorry,” he says. Also trying to ignore Donnie’s missing coat. He looks back to his supplies and pulls out a pen light. “I’m going to check your pupil dilation, but only if you're up for it.” He waits for Donnie to give a slight nod before he lifts the pen and carefully pushes the ice pack away from his eyes. Using his thumb to cover Don’s opposite eye without actually touching him, with a flash the pupil constricts and dilates as it should. He does the same process to the other “Well that’s good at least,” Leo says. “How’s your vision?”

“Spinning, but I think that’s from the pain.”

That would make sense. The red slider turtle rose to sit on the edge of the couch, carefully unwrapping Don’s scalp as gently as he can, checking his facial expression for any signs of increased pain before he lets out a sigh of relief. “It's just a surface bleed. It doesn’t look like the actual injury itself reopened.”

“That’s good,” Donnie says with a soft sigh. “You’re doing a good job.”

“I had a good teacher.” Leo made sure to give Donnie a soft smile that the turtle barely returns. “Let me just change the bandages and we’ll head home when you feel up for it. Maybe we can order some pizza; I've had a monster craving for anchovy and chocolate syrup pizza for days-“

“I was wrong.”

Leo blinks, pausing from unwrapping the new bandages with his hands. It takes him longer than he should to realize what Don’s apologizing for and when he does, he only returns to digging through his kit. “You were a little right,” Leo says quietly putting aside a bottle of alcohol, “I mean it's kinda right, right?? You're usually right-“

“No, Leo.” Donnie tries to sit up but fails to get up more than a few seconds before Leo’s grip on his arm forces him back down. “Leo I was wrong. I was angry, my head was killing me I would have said anything to hurt you. You don’t mess everything up-“

“Except I do?” Leo lets out a soft laugh. “I mean I do. Between the minotaur's pizza and Big Mama I'm surprised I get anything right-“

Don’s hand grabs his shoulders and before Leo can stop him, the soft-shell forces himself into a sitting position with pure grit alone (judging by the pain filled grimace on his face, “Would you listen to me?!” Donnie demands shaking him by the shoulders, “I shouldn’t have even said it but I would have said anything. I was angry at feeling so helpless and dependent. I was angry because you were right for trying to stop me from going out. I did need your help and I shouldn’t have been so difficult. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-“ his last sentence is interrupted with a sob that helps him notice the tears running down his face. Donnie lets out an aggravated huff as he presses the heel of his hands against his streaming eyes to help spare his dignity in some way.

He feels the couch shift as Leo shifts closer, wrapping his arms around him. “Ok, ok you were wrong. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing Leo,“ Donnie manages to say from his brother’s shoulder. “I’m the one apologizing not you, idiot.”

“Alright, alright I apologize for apologizing. You were wrong I was right. Is that what you want to hear?” he asks. Don nods into his shoulder. Leo rests his cheek on Dons’ shoulder rubbing his shell for a few moments as Don’s erratic breathing finally starts to calm down.

After a few seconds Don lets out a small sigh, “Damn it, I was doing so good too. I can't even tell anymore if these are meltdowns or panic attacks.”

“As long as you don’t have to deal with them alone when you don’t want to, that’s all I care about.” Leo gives him a final squeeze before reaching up and taking Don’s shoulders, gently guiding him down to lay down again. “Ok buddy. I’m going to rewrap your head, and then I'm going to go order us some food and portal us home. You just relax ok?” He waits for Donnie to nod before Leo starts applying some alcohol to a cotton ball. “I’ll be honest though, I’m sorta surprised you made it here safely.”

Don for the first time since Leo entered Hueso’s office looks him with his tired blood shot eyes. A soft smile forming on his face as he relaxes. “Yeah,” he whispers. ”Me too.”

[imma-lil-teapot]

Which Turtle I’d Get Along Best With :)

This is actually in response to @aurora-the-kunoichi ‘s  post = 

Ignoring the facts on why they are your favorite turtle based on looks and character traits. Based on your personality alone who do you think you would get alone with the best and give me reasons.

I was going to respond to it in the comments, but found the more I thought about it, the more indepth I wanted to actually go into the subject, and it’s been a while since I posted something of my own (sorta) so here we go~

Also, please beware the typos and errors. They bite.

A few things before we start... (Feel free to skip if you’re really not interested, it’s cool) ;)

-- Since a Bay!verse gif was used in the original post (points up), those are the Turts I’m going with in response to the post. :)

-- I have a handful of personal issues that I’m going to take into account when considering which guy I’d get along with best, namely: social anxiety and awkwardness, depression, panic attacks and low self esteem.

-- The general comfort setting I assume is during after the initial reaction of meeting them. So the friendship is still in its early stages but past the ‘OMGOSH, GIANT, TALKING, EXTREMELY BUFF, TURTLES WITH WEAPONS’ phase.

-- I really wanted to talk a bit about each one and how I’d feel around them, so how this is gonna work is basically least comfortable (first) to most comfortable (last) and of course as to why. :)

-- Please don’t think for a second that I dislike any of them based on this! I ADORE all of these boys (even though I do have a fav) and I fully believe that just about anyone (with good intentions) can get along with all of them and vice versa, even if it were to take a while (I’m looking at you, Raph ;P). I don’t see these boys being especially hostile to anyone without good reasoning, but like with all friendships, it takes time. 

And with that outta the way~ (Drum roll)

(4) LEAST COMFORTABLE~

RAPHAEL~

Aww, Mr. Big Cuddly Teddy Bear himself? Why would I be the least comfortable around ol’ Red? Perhaps because, first of all, his SIZE!! :O Yeah, technically, Donnie’s slightly taller, and granted, they’re all pretty gigantic, but Raph’s on a whole other level! Skip shoulder day? I think not! And here I am, 5′1′’ and have to look to the sky to see this hulking mass staring down at me with such a piercing gaze and a toothpick poking out of his lips... Yeah, that social anxiety and shyness I spoke of earlier would be busy wetting itself whenever I’d be in the general vicinity of Raphie-Boy. Now let’s get real for a sec, it’s not like Raph’s gonna have a Leatherhead moment and turn savage at the sight of me, but in my irrational mindset, from his displayed temper and the way he goes at that punching bag, he could at any time... Not to mention how he often butts heads with Leo. It would take quite a while to completely dispel the tension and discomfort I’d be in whenever I’m around him. Maybe even a few years since I get really nervous around others that show a lot of anger and physical irritation. I’d definitely feel like he’d find me a bother, irritating or in the way a lot, even though he probably wouldn’t really since he tolerates a lot from others, but that’s just how I’d interpret his actions from my own point of view and I’d always try to stay a little clear of him for the most part. Seriously, I adore you, Raph, but you’d scare the cr@p outta me. :O

On a brighter note, I would admire his dedication to his family, his heroic actions and just the way he works out all the time. But you know, just from... afar. :) At least for a while until I got use to him more, then we might even hit it off after that!

(3) SECOND TO LEAST COMFORTABLE~

LEONARDO~

Sorry Boi Blue. :’( You may be my fav, but I’d be an awkward mess around you. Now I dunno if the favoritism would hold true if I were to meet them in reality (there’s still a good chance it would), but like with Raph, Leo’s someone I’d admire from afar, though the nervousness wouldn’t be as hectic as with his younger brother in red since Leo doesn’t tend to display it as much and not in the same fashion. I tend to have a good amount of respect for authoritative figures (or at least I try to) and he’d be no exception to that rule, but because of this, I’d both enjoy and dread our little interactions for the fear of saying something stupid or to annoy him in anyway, even though I’d probably enjoy his presence since he’s someone to look up to (and no, that wasn’t a short joke ;P ) and to feel protected by. Again, I’d feel like a burden and an annoyance to him but unlike with Raph, I would have to at least open my mouth first to get that same amount of discomfort with him as opposed to Raph... That last sentence wasn’t meant to sound NSFW, just FYI. ;P But with Leo, I think I’d actually try and work around that amount of nerves to get into his good books since he’s proven he can be a bit more on the gentlemanly side so I feel I’d stand a better chance with him... But still pretty nervy and that is why he’s in the no.3 spot. Sorry, Leader Boy. :’(

Up side, the admiration is strong. Leaders have a lot upon their shoulders to bear so that alone puts him in high respects in my eyes. Not mention I’d be in complete awe whenever watching him practicing with his katanas and performing katas... I promised myself I wouldn’t fangirl, but DAYUM, BOI! It’s getting awful warm in the sewer~ Expect applause and compliments after practice! ;P

(2) SECOND MOST COMFORTABLE~

DONATELLO~

Despite us talking about the smartest Turtle, this one’s a no-brainer, really. :) Don’s a sweetheart so I think someone would really have to try their best to get this pacifist to at least not tolerate them. That’s not to say he doesn’t have enemies - like Shredder and Krang of course - but as long you’re not posing a threat to his family, friends, the innocent or the earth, I think you’re pretty much A-okay to him. He’d without a doubt be the brother I’d feel most comfortable around after the first as he seems to take into consideration the feelings and reactions of others and is just pretty laid back in general, not really loud and ranty and for that, I’d definitely feel more at ease around. Plus, he has a bit of a fun and quirky side that comes out every now and then. Heck, even a little bit of a potty mouth. X’D Don is definitely the one I’d go to for advice on just about anything, or just to share random information and trivia with. I feel he’d be a great listener, share his own opinions in a gentle fashion, provide heartfelt solutions and just genuinely be ready to help where he’s needed. Heck, he may even try to engage me in some simple tasks like helping him with a gadget he’s busy whipping up... This is however where the comfort will start to wobble: Don-Bon’s a genius, and I’m intimidated by brilliance of the mind. :( I’d start to feel compelled to stop talking to him after a while for the sheer sake of seeming too dense to be in his presence, especially if he were to start explaining equations and science related topics. His brilliant mindset would be too much for me to bear so I think I’d probably not spend too much time around him. That’s not to say the others aren’t smart, heck, but Don’s on a whole other playing field!

Other than that, I definitely would feel comfortable around this sweetie nerd. He’s adorable! Even though the brilliance is what scares me, I would in turn be in awe of it. :) He’s a regular Einstein and then some with a lovely personality to boot! 

When there’s something strange, 

with your home wi-fi,

Who ya gonna call?

DONATELLO~

*Is boo’d off the stage* X’D

And finally~

~(1)~ MOST COMFORTABLE~

~MICHELANGELO~

*Lets off balloons and streamers* Well, what a surprise, am I right? ;P Raise your hand if you saw it coming! :)

But seriously though, there wasn’t much to question; Mikey’s easily the one I’d gravitate towards first and feel most at ease around. :) He’s so laid back, fun, non-judgmental, accommodating, sweet, hilarious and charming, just to name a few things! What can I say, the youngest brother of the Turts is adorable and I genuinely feel I’d get along quite well with him. <3 With all my own personal baggage, he seems like the one that would be most patient and understanding with me if anything was to surface, and he’d be so chilled about it or even joke around in a non-offensive manner to help ease the tension. That’s something I’d really appreciate with him, especially in certain situations. His goofiness could quell any nerves, that’s for sure. Even though I’m no prankster of any note whatsoever, if he were to rope me into a very harmless and innocent one here and there, I’d probably be game for it, so the two of us would probably have quite a bit of fun together. Watching movies together too, with pizza, of course! Even laughing at him showing/goofing-off during training. 

So yeah, Mikey’s hands down my go-to Turtle boy in terms of comfort level, emotional support and just about everything in that relation. I see no reason as to why I’d not get along with him. He’s just a really great guy whom I feel would really go out of his way to make any human with good intentions feel welcome in his family. Someone who’s really in tune with others’ feelings and emotions and would try to help them when needed in the best way he could think of. A real cutie-pie with a heart of gold who just wants to fit in with the rest of the world. Someone who wouldn’t really care what the person looked like as long as they meant well. That’s Mikey for you, and the one I’d probably be most comfortable around! :D 

And there we have it! :) Definitely a fun and enjoyable post to type up! Although the ‘winner’ was a clear cut choice, it really got me thinking how I’d feel around the other three so am really glad I got around to doing this. :) Also, I’m sure @aurora-the-kunoichi​ would love to see more people respond to the question so if you’re interested, feel free to respond to it. ;) 

Thanks for reading~

[lickstynine]

Oily Jace and the Smol Greasy Bitch (part 1)

A/N: Since @sickandvomiting and I are in love with our 50′s AU of Jace and Elizabeth, and equally in love with brutal whump, we decided to write the story of how Greaser Jace got his scars. I had to change the origin, since a car wreck that severe would’ve just straight-up killed him back then. Anyway, this was really fun to write, so I hope y’all enjoy reading it. Coordinating illustration(s) to come.

Jace felt like he’d been walking for about ten hours, though it had really only been about thirty minutes. Normally his long legs could’ve taken him from the bar to Elizabeth’s place in ten or fifteen, but it was hard to walk quickly when he was actively losing blood. When he’d first stood up, it had been a struggle to ignore the searing pain of several deep cuts. Now he was so lightheaded, the pain was negligible, but his ability to stand was quickly fading. It felt like he’d been trudging through miles of concrete jungle. He was about to give up and lay down in an alley to accept his fate when a familiar sight wobbled before his eyes. Just down the road, Elizabeth’s dilapidated brownstone was visible under a flickering streetlight, its telltale patches of moss and missing brick mercifully familiar.

Jace sighed in relief, sending a fresh jolt of pain through several cuts and some probably-cracked ribs. It stung fiercely, but it woke him up a bit, and he forced himself to keep walking, cursing and fumbling as he scaled the rusty fire escape. His right wrist screamed when he grabbed onto the railing, but he didn’t let go. Just two flights of creaky old stairs, and he’d be safe. By the time he reached Elizabeth’s window, he was one stiff wind away from toppling right back down the fire escape. He leaned heavily on the rail, using his good hand to rap on the glass.

“Ey! Doll face! You up?” Even in this state, Jace knew well enough to whisper. If he woke up Elizabeth’s neighbors, or god forbid, her parents, they’d both be dead.

Momentarily the curtains were drawn back to reveal Elizabeth’s face behind the glass. The grin she wore at the surprise of seeing him quickly faded, however, as she got full sight of him. Blood streamed down his face, neck, and chest, staining his white t-shirt a dark brownish red.

“Jace, what the fuck!!” she hissed, opening the creaky window as quietly as she could. “What happened? Who did this to you?” She tugged on his arm, trying to pull him into the room, but pulled away when he winced sharply.

“I… I can clue you. Kinda.” Jace climbed in the window himself, hissing, wincing, and groaning and eventually just landing face first on the ground. “Shit…”

Elizabeth jumped at the sound, and her hands momentarily flitted to his back before she stood back up and peeked out her door. Good, the hallway was clear. They hadn’t heard.

“Better get to explaining there, honey,” she whispered, closing the door as quietly as possible. She fluttered back to him and helped him to sit upright. “Thank god the floor is wood,” she muttered when she saw the bloodstain left on the scuffed floorboards.

“Sorry.” Jace tried to grin sheepishly, but it was more of a grimace. “I wasn't even tryin’ to start shit this time.”

She gave him a skeptical look.

“I wasn't!” Jace cried, “I was at the bar with the guys, and there were a couple punks hangin’ out nearby... hollerin' at the bartender and just bein' assholes. Leo and Donny had to bail early, so it was just me and Aaron there the rest of the night. It's gettin' late, we're about to head out, and we hear a ruckus over on the far side of the bar. It's those punks from before. They're all over this kitten, they clearly wanna neck 'er and she is not havin’ it.” He paused, waiting for a reaction from Elizabeth. She scrunched her nose distastefully, and he continued.

“So I go over there. I tell 'em to back off unless they wanna knuckle sandwich. Aaron cut out soon as I started talkin'. You know him, he's such a wet rag with that shit. Too scared of gettin' in trouble. But anyway, so I'm tellin' these punks to leave the girl alone, they tell me to get bent and go back to grabbin' at 'er.” Again, Jace paused, and Elizabeth scoffed obligingly.

“So I yanked the closer guy offa her and decked him, and his friend lets go'a the girl to help 'im. At first I was creamin' 'em, like those two were half dead, and then outta the woodwork, like five more guys pop up to help the bastards. But I don't wanna just bail, cause what are they gonna do to that girl if I turn tail like Aaron. So I'm just tryin' to keep my head above water, and one of these nosebleeds breaks a goddamn bottle an' comes at me with it. Nearly cut my fuckin' head off before I kicked it outta his hand. Dunno what I woulda done if the bartender hadn't threatened to call the cops. Jackasses ran off, but it was already past close, so I had to cut out, too. I didn't even see where that girl got off to… I just hope those creeps didn't find her."

Elizabeth just hummed in response, at a loss for words. As he’d been speaking, she had started wiping the blood off his face and neck with a washcloth and the water from her hot water bottle. She paused and met his eyes, and cupped the uninjured side of his face with her hand.

“I’m so sorry that happened, sugar,” she said, wiping a streak of blood and sweat from his cheek with her thumb. “But hey, we match now!” She flashed him a concerned smile, and was pleased when he momentarily grinned back, though the expression quickly morphed into a grimace.

Jace shrugged, his face immediately screwing up in painful regret. “I mean… it was the right thing to do… I think. Maybe I shoulda just butted out...” He sighed, and his good hand flew to his ribs, which were aching much worse than earlier. Any last dregs of adrenaline were long gone by now, and he could feel the edges of the cuts on his chest tugging with every breath. “I'm gonna hafta borrow a shirt from Donny or somethin’... If I come home in this, Mom's gonna flip her lid.”

“Hey, no, it wasn’t your fault. People are just… like that,” she said, resuming her work on his wounds. “I would offer you one of my dad’s shirts, but it would be like me trying to wear a baby onesie,” she added with a chuckle. After a moment, she stopped again. She could see deep down into the whitish yellow viscera in some of the cuts, and while the bleeding was slowing, it wasn’t slowing as quickly as she’d like.

“You should really get to a hospital, Jace,” she murmured. “All I’ve got here is iodine, alcohol, and Rawleigh’s.”

“That should be fine.” Jace shrugged, as if he had a bad paper cut and not a couple pints of blood soaking his shirt.

“It won-” she started loudly, but caught herself and lowered her voice to a whisper again. “It won’t be fine! I can’t take care of this by myself, you need a doctor!”

Jace sighed. “How do you want me to get there, Liz? Aaron picked me up today.”

“I dunno, we could flag down a taxi or something? I don’t have any money though, and I don’t think I can very well ask my parents,” she trailed off. “Besides, I doubt any cab would take us with you lookin’ like this.”

“Yeah, I got money, but…” Jace sighed. He was wracking his brain, trying to figure out who he might be able to call. At first, his vacant gaze seemed thoughtful, but then his eyelids fluttered and he slumped forward against Elizabeth.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she hissed, tapping his face. “Jace, c’mon baby, wake up.” When he didn’t respond, she held his head against the crook of her neck and stroked his hair, swallowing down the newfound panic that was crawling into her throat. “Shit!”

She pushed Jace back against the wall as gently as she could, though his head lolled back and hit the drywall with a hollow thump. She muttered an apology despite the fact that he couldn’t hear it, and stood as quietly as she could, afraid the thud had woken her parents. She listened for a moment, head cocked toward the door—nothing except her mom’s muffled snoring from down the hall.

She made her way to their living room, dancing around the creaky floorboards in a routine that was now muscle memory from repetition. She dialed the number as quietly as she could, wincing every time to rotary dial reset with a click and a metallic ring. When the operator picked up, she gave the number to Jace’s home, and silently hoped upon hope that it would be his dad answering, and not his mom.

The phone rang a few times, and Elizabeth practically collapsed with relief when Vody’s deep voice and clipped accent came through the receiver.

“Hyello? Who this?” He didn't sound angry, luckily, but he was definitely confused. Phone calls at three in the morning rarely meant good news.

“Mr. Romanovich! It’s Elizabeth. Please come to my house, it’s important. Jace is here. Please help.” The words came tumbling out in a rush, accompanied by sudden tears and a choked sob, and she found herself hanging up the phone before he could even open his mouth to respond.

Vody stood over the phone for a moment, dumbfounded as it buzzed in his ear. He could only imagine what Jace had gotten into, but he supposed now wasn't the time to worry about it. Not bothering to throw on real clothes, he simply grabbed his car keys and stepped into the boots he'd left by the front door. It wasn't cold out this time of year, and even if it had been, New York winter was about as cool as a Siberian summer. Despite being clad in only his boxers and a tank top, he strolled shamelessly out to his car, climbing in and gunning it down the road.

The streets weren't as busy this time of night, and it didn't take long for Vody to pull up in front of Elizabeth's brownstone. He parked out front and hurried up to the door, hesitant to actually knock at this hour.

Luckily, the door swung open as soon as he reached the landing; Elizabeth had been listening for him. She held a finger up to her lips and pointed to his feet, and for a moment Vody caught a glint of tears on her cheeks in the dimly lit doorway. He took off his clunky boots and she guided him deftly through the hallway, showing him how to avoid the noisy floorboards. They miraculously made it to her room with minimal sound. There, Jace had slid down the wall and was slumped sideways onto the ground, seemingly lifeless. Elizabeth clamped a hand over her mouth when she reflexively gasped, and after dashing over to him and taking a moment to compose herself, she turned to Vody.

“Please help. He’s hurt bad.”

Vody sighed quietly. He wasn't exactly fazed - he'd seen people in much sorrier states during the war - but that didn't mean he wanted to see his son torn up and bleeding to death. He didn't bother asking questions yet, crouching down to scoop Jace off the ground as carefully as possible. Jace groaned slightly, his eyelids flickering, but he slumped over against Vody's chest as soon as he was picked up. Vody stood up easily, not at all bothered by the weight. Elizabeth hurried to open the door for him, and they crept out to the car in fearful silence.

Once Jace was placed carefully into the passenger seat, Vody climbed back into the driver's, starting the car while Elizabeth hopped into the back. He finally broke the silence, as there was a rather important question to be asked.

“You know where nearest hospital is?”

“Yeah.” She supplied him with the location and the quickest way she knew to get there, and once again fell silent. Her eye was fixed on Jace, and she reached up to squeeze his shoulder. After a few moments she spoke again, this time more quietly.

“I should have called you sooner. I’m sorry. I waited too long.” A sob caught in her throat and she bit it back, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to stem the flow of tears. Nonetheless, they rolled down her face and she ducked out of sight, ashamed of both her inaction which led to this situation, and the way she was currently handling it.

“Hey. You okay. You not nurse. Not trained to take care of hurt people. Freak out is normal. You try to help. That what matter. We go to hospital now. Will be okay.” Vody reached one of his long arms back to gently pat her shoulder.  

“You cold?” He asked tactfully, having been trying not to stare at her very thin nightie for a while now. “Should be blanket somewhere in back.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she said with a sniffle, pulling the worn fleece around her shoulders. “The hospital is right up here,” she added as they turned onto the correct street.

Vody went quiet again as they pulled up in front of the emergency room. He parked right there, rushing around to pick up Jace and carry him inside. The poor nurse at the desk looked horrified, hastily paging the doctor on call. It wasn't long before a stretcher appeared, nurses pushing it and a doctor hurrying alongside. Vody set Jace on the stretcher as carefully as possible, following along without waiting for an invitation as they wheeled off down the hall. He gestured for Elizabeth to come with, fully ready to fight anyone that tried to stop them.

She tagged along behind him, jogging to keep up with their quick pace. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, feeling exposed in the public hallway. She didn’t even bother to gather the ends of it off the floor, instead letting it trail behind her like a sad cape. When they arrived at the room, the nurses stopped both of them, one laying a gentle but firm hand on Vody’s chest.

“You can both stay here and watch, but you have to give us room to work,” she explained. “There’s a waiting area down the hall, too,” she added, though it was more of a suggestion than an additional detail.

“We’re staying. We’ll stay out of your way,” Elizabeth stated.

Vody nodded firmly. He wasn't going anywhere until he knew Jace would be okay. He leaned on the wall, sighing quietly as he watched nurses frantically slice away Jace's clothes and work to staunch the wounds that were still trickling blood. When the doctor got to work, Vody finally looked down at Elizabeth.

“What happened?” His voice was softer and more subdued than Elizabeth had ever heard, the mischievous twinkle long gone from his eye.

“Some punks gave him a beating when he tried to help out a girl they were harassing,” she said, her gaze never leaving Jace. There was so much blood. She reached blindly for Vody’s hand, and ended up latching onto his arm with trembling fingers. He put an arm around her, strong and sturdy. There was a long sigh followed by silence as he pondered his response. He didn't want to say Jace should've left the girl to be harassed, but he couldn't think of a better solution either. It was just a shit situation. He sighed again, low and heavy.

“Am trying to decide if I should call his mother. Obviously, will tell her either way, but... Don't know if better to go home and talk later, or call now.”

“Jace wouldn’t want her to worry,” Elizabeth replied. “He didn’t want you to worry either,” she added after a second.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Vody snorted. “He seriously think he just going to come home and pretend he fine?” He shook his head. “Too much like me.”

Elizabeth found herself chuckling along with him. “I think he really believed he could just waltz in and no one would notice a thing. He’s a real dipstick sometimes…”

Vody nodded, a smile flickering on his face. It faded quickly, and he ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “Have cigarettes in car. I go get. You stay, watch him.”

As he turned to leave, Elizabeth caught his hand and he paused.

“He’s gonna be okay, Mr. Romanovich.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “He always is. He has to be.”

Vody forced a smile for her. “He have you. That help.” He trudged off down the hall, ignoring the strange look he got from a passing nurse.

As promised, he returned a few minutes later with a lighter and a pack of cigarettes in hand, one already lit in his mouth. He held them out to Elizabeth without a word. She took one and allowed him to light it for her as she puffed, blowing a small cloud of smoke against the glass of the ICU room wall. The scene seemed to drag on for far too long, with an alarming amount of blood and sharp tools. Easily the most gruesome was an incision the doctor made between two ribs, inserting a tube to drain blood from the chest cavity. Even Vody grimaced at the sight. Between him and Elizabeth, the pack of cigarettes was quickly depleting.

Eventually, the doctor came out to talk to them. He explained that they had patched up all the cuts, but they wanted to keep an eye on Jace for a while, since some of the wounds were deep, with one having nicked his small intestine, and another puncturing his left lung. They were going to take him for x-rays now that he wasn't going to bleed out on the radiologist, and do further repairs once they knew for sure what was broken. Vody nodded along, listening closely but at a loss for words.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Elizabeth replied in his stead. As he left, she turned to Vody and grabbed his large palm. “Hear that? He’s gonna be okay.”

Vody sighed, nodding half-heartedly. “Da.” He leaned against the wall, slowly sinking down until he was sitting on the floor. It honestly looked a bit ridiculous - a giant man, smudged with blood, wearing work boots and heart-print boxers, sitting on the pristine hospital tile. He had told himself he was going to be calm. He was the father here, he had to be responsible and take care of things. At the same time, it took all his self-control to stay quiet and composed. He felt like an idiot. A failure. A fuck-up. Had he raised Jace to be too much like himself? Should he have been keeping a closer eye on his son? How the fuck did this even happen? He sighed deeply, and it wobbled as he choked down a sob.

“Mr. Romanovich?” Elizabeth questioned, hearing the slight tremble in his breath. She laid her hand on his shoulder hesitantly, unsure of what to do.

“Hm?” Vody didn't dare to look up; he felt pathetic. He was sitting on the floor crying, being comforted by a little girl. The hallway was far too silent to miss his sniffles, and his face burned red with embarrassment.

Without a word, Elizabeth stepped into the now empty ICU room and rooted around for a bit before discovering a cache of blankets. She brought one out and draped it around Vody’s shoulders before sliding down to the floor next to him and resting the side of her head against his arm. Sniffling quietly, he patted her hair in silent gratitude.

“He’s okay,” she whispered. It felt as though any sound in the quiet hall would break the thin barrier keeping their emotions at bay, and she closed her eyes as the words dissipated against the white walls.

Vody kept a sturdy arm around Elizabeth, awake and alert as much as he didn't want to be. He was too on edge to even consider spacing out - it felt like if he blinked, he might open his eye to a doctor leading them down to the morgue. Of course, that wasn't the case, and after a while, a nurse came to talk to them. She explained that they'd found several breaks, but luckily, none were compounded. They'd had to put screws into Jace's wrist, since he'd fucked up the alignment of the bones pretty badly (likely trying to climb the fire escape), and they wanted to keep a close eye on his ribs, to make sure they didn't interfere with the healing of his lung. Despite this seemingly endless list of awful news, she assured them that Jace was expected to recover completely; he would just need care and rest for a while.

“He’s stable now, I can take you to his room if you like?”

Vody nodded, scrambling to his feet and helping Elizabeth up as well. He hurried after the nurse as she guided them to a simple patient room. Jace was sprawled out on the bed, his lanky legs mere inches from drooping off the edge. His wrist was wrapped heavily in plaster and bandages, and his arms and torso were covered in fresh stitches, including particularly nasty gashes across his left pectoral and below his navel. The tube was still in his chest, and he was attached to a delightful assortment of monitors to track his vitals. The entire right side of his face was covered in bandages, with a long line of stitches and a patchwork of bruises on the other cheek.

Vody couldn't help cringing at the sight. Somehow this was almost worse than the gorey mess earlier. Maybe because he could no longer tell himself it was just the blood everywhere that made it seem so bad, or maybe because he'd never seen Jace look so weak and vulnerable. It felt wrong, and Vody couldn't help feeling responsible. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed, but hesitated, not wanting to jostle Jace or mess up any of the equipment.

Elizabeth had no such anxieties, and rushed to his side. She brushed a strand of hair off the exposed side of his face, fingers tracing along his brow, then down his jawline. They lingered momentarily on his lips, and she smiled sadly when she felt his warm breath on them. It reminded her that he would be okay. Jace stirred slightly at her touch, letting out a soft groan. Vody perked up at once, watching them closely.

“Jace?” she whispered. “You awake?”

Jace's eyelids fluttered, and he squinted against the bright hospital lights. His vision was hazy, but the massive mane of dark curls hovering over him was unmistakable. “Hey, doll face… how goes it?”

“Oh, just peachy,” she replied with a chuckle that ended in a stifled sob. Tears began rolling soundlessly down her cheeks as she took his face in both hands and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Welcome back to the land of the living,” she added, voice thick with emotion.

“Didn't miss it as much as I thought I would. Shit hurts.” Jace was trying to be light-hearted, but even faking a smile made him grimace. He patted the mattress beside him with his good hand. “C'mere, there's space for your skinny little ass.” That brought a more genuine smirk out of him, followed by a grunt of pain. Every movement seemed to hurt, even just talking. “Christ alive, they got any drugs in this quack shack or do I just get to sit here suffering?”

“You’re already on enough to send any of us normal folk to cloud nine,” she said, hesitating and shooting a glance in Vody’s direction. “But you’re a pretty big cat too, so you can probably handle some more. I’ll go get the nurse, leave you two alone for a moment.” With a quick pivot, she scampered away, leaving the room in a breathless silence as Jace’s good eye focused slowly on his father.

“Shit.” Even as he'd realized he was in the hospital, Jace had still naively hoped his parents hadn't found out. He was clearly panicked, stumbling over his words as he tried to explain himself. “Okay so, ya see, the thing is-”

Vody cut him off. “Hush. Miss Lizbeth told me everything. You think I'm mad at you, Jason?” He was almost laughing as he said it.

“Well… kinda?” Jace admitted. He didn't even have a good reason for why. He'd just assumed that going out, being rowdy, and getting into trouble meant his parents would be pissed.

“Did you start fight?” Vody asked plainly.

“Not really… I mean… I threw the first punch, but I was just tryna get those creeps offa that poor girl!” Jace tried to sit up, naturally getting animated as he defended himself. He promptly fell back on the pillows with a grimace.

“Then why would I be mad?”

Jace paused, looking up at his father for a moment as he thought. “...I dunno.”

Now Vody couldn't help laughing. “Too much my son, you are…” He plunked down on the foot of the bed, patting Jace's knee gently. “I not mad at you. Was worried, of course. But I not mad. Your mother…” Vody sighed, knowing Serafina likely wouldn't be happy about Jace getting in a fight, even one most people would consider justified. “I will talk to your mother.”

Jace cringed. “Do you have to tell Mom?”

Vody snorted. “Well, yes. How am I explain broken hand and stitches face?”

“...right. Good point.” Jace sighed. He really didn't want to have to talk to Serafina, even if Vody talked to her first. He got distracted from his worries when Elizabeth walked back in with a nurse, who approached Jace with another syringe and inserted it into his IV tube.

“Just a little more morphine. We don’t want to go overboard,” the nurse said with a small smile, which Elizabeth returned as the nurse left the room.

Jace visibly relaxed as the meds hit his system, and Elizabeth found herself laughing. “Naturally, you beat up some goons, get totaled, and end up high as a kite on the good stuff.” She took his hand in hers, careful to avoid the bandages and stitching. “Fucking beatnik.” She raised an eyebrow when he smirked at her, no longer wincing at the movement.

“Look,” he grinned, “this wasn't how I planned to spend my Friday night. The beat life chose me.”

“It's Saturday morning. Has been for while now.” Vody chimed in.

“Shit, is it?” Jace looked at his wrist as if he ever wore a watch.

“Da. Sun came up hour ago.” Vody confirmed.

“Ah, shit…” Jace smiled apologetically at Elizabeth. “Sorry baby. Normally, I try to make our all-nighters a little more fun.”

“Jace!” Elizabeth hissed through clenched teeth and leaned in conspiratorially. “Your father is in here with us, shut up!” She flashed Vody a sheepish smile and clamped a hand as gently as she could over Jace’s mouth when he started to speak again.

Vody just chuckled. “Your secret safe with me. He not get habits from his mother.” He sighed. “Who I probably need go talk to. Wish luck.”

“Slay the dragon!” Jace encouraged, muffled by Elizabeth's hand, who flashed Vody another apologetic grin.  

As soon as Vody left the room, Elizabeth whirled on him in mock outrage.

“You knucklehead! Sayin’ shit like that in front of the old man,” she muttered, climbing up onto the bed with him. “You really are the most, aren’t ya?”

“Baby, I'm more than the most.” Jace grinned, slinging his less-damaged arm around her. “Like your nightgown, by the way. Meant to tell ya earlier, but I was busy… y'know… bleedin’ out.” He laughed, drowning in far too much morphine to be worried about his mortality.

She curled into his chest with a snort, tactfully avoiding his more grievous wounds, and gently kissed his collarbone before laying her head down and falling silent, listening to the steady beat of his heart and feeling the gentle rise and fall of his breath.

“You really scared us, you know,” she said finally. “Us meaning him too. He was terrified.”

Jace snorted derisively. “You're pullin' my leg. I've never seen Dad scared.”

“Really, babe. Like, really really.”

Jace furrowed his brows, seeming to be in serious thought for possibly the first time ever. He didn't say anything for a while, then quietly ventured, “How bad do I look?”

“Like how I imagine someone might look after a tiger attack. Which is to say, pretty damn bad.” She fell silent for a moment, then quietly added “Scary bad, honestly.” Her hand trailed slowly along the edge of his bandages, mapping out the new tracks it would have to follow.

Jace cringed. She hadn't even tried to sugarcoat it - it was too bad to bother. He'd been considering asking for a mirror, but now he was honestly afraid. “Oh… shit.” As stupid as it was, he couldn't help being more worried about his appearance than his health. Cuts would recover. Good looks… not so much.

Elizabeth lifted her head to face him, and found his eyes darting down to assess the damage for himself, slight panic beginning to show in his face when he saw exactly how many injuries there were, their centers stained a deep browning red.

“Hey, don’t do that. Not yet,” she said, lifting his chin with two fingers and tilting it toward her face. “Not yet…” She smiled sadly when his good eye finally focused on hers, and she kissed his brow. Jace tried to force a smile, but it didn't stick. He wasn't sure if it was the stress or the drugs, but he was struggling to focus. Thoughts were spinning around like a whirlwind in his head, and the bed no longer felt steady beneath him. He squeezed his eyes shut with a tense sigh.

“You’re okay, baby,” Elizabeth said, rearranging herself so that his head could rest on her chest instead. “I’ve got you.” She carded a hand slowly through his hair. The nurses had washed the blood and product out of it to get him cleaned up before the surgery, and it was soft under her hand.

“Just sleep. We’ll deal with whatever comes up tomorrow. For now, just sleep.” She continued her gentle ministrations, and when his good eye remained wide open, head spinning with endless possibilities, each less desirable than the last, she started humming. Gently, sweetly. A stupid little song that they’d heard in a jukebox when they first met. After a while, his eyes fluttered shut as the morphine made the thoughts indecipherable and he stopped trying to think, and stopped trying not to think. Instead, he just let himself be, and feel Elizabeth’s hands in his hair, the warmth of her body, and sound of her voice. And eventually, he was lulled into a deep but peaceless sleep.

[k4nill]

ROTTMNT: Human AU, some design HCs and random HC

@bootyyshaker9000 This is so long i'm so sorry i just gonna make a post about it i don't wanna flow your dms or anything, so I wrote this down in paper and in spanish so forgive me if my english is shitty and it took so damn long, btw HI!!!~ How you doing honey?

My Heart Ache a Lot (cuzhessopreciousicantbrah)

~ My son Mikey I can't let anybody hurt you. (Btw, Leon call him Miguelito). He struggles a little with puberty, mostly with ocasional acne. His brothers constantly remind him of being careful to not get scars from pinching the pimples obsessively.

~ MIXED BRAH U CANT' TELL ME OTHER WISE, 1/2 cups of african-american and 1/2 cups of latino spice and PUFF yOU GOT CINNAMON ROLL THAT COULD ACTUALLY KILL YOU.

~ Cocoa skin (with that yellow undertone, you know?). Thin hair, curly, natural and the most bouncy-est(?) hair, a little above the chin lenght, tied up in a bun when he's busy making art.

~ Button nose, surrounded by some freckles. With really big, almond eyes. His face gets pinkish when it's to damn hot, he's doing to much work or is REALLY angry.

~ I think I gotta bring up how nice his smile is, he got that smile, that shows up just his upper teeth row, the upper lip disappears and it goes way up his cheeks and then it sinks in his dimples. Art.

~ Mikey ain't that young but his height, complexion and even facial features makes him look a lot younger in comparison to his brothers, he could be like 25 and ppl would still think he's in highschool, never aging ppl.

~Had this beautiful dreads, with the tips colored differently once in a while. Now he's growing his hair to have larger dreads, so he can paint em a different color each and have em in high up-do, like a rubberband ball.

~ Mikey would wear every fucking color, get the fuck away with toxic masculinity p l e a s e. Fits anything 10/10. But loves sports clothing (Matching ones are the BEST) he find's it refreshing and really comfy since Miguel is really active, so if he's needs to go usain bolt he GOES OFF and you can imagine sneakers don't last with him. Probably, every single piece of clothing he owns has at least a minor stain from some sort of paint.

~Wears headbands, sometimes really neat designs and then straight out "what the hell is this vomit stain garbage Mikey?" (from Donnie, mostly).

~ Has fake piercings. He's got several in his ears. He wants to have em for real, older brothers just keep telling him that "when he gets older".

Plus: We all know how the turtles are sneaky sneaky, tricky tricky and rad skillyz skillyz being ninjas but in this human AU his brothers got nothing on him like he's flexible as hell, he comes down the stairs like the exorcist bitch or that other bitch on the ring and scares the shit out of Leon and Raph, can touch his calfs with his neck that kind of stuff. And he doesn't run, he travels back to 1955 to save Marty McFly ass.

Leonardo DABinci

~ Not so long ago I made a post about how Leon is a Latino, quote:

"I can clearly see how Leon is totally a Latino. Like: thick wavy hair, with really small monolid eyes, and medium light skin (latinos know what the hell i'm talking about, those kids that get told they have "ojos de chinito" and rock the neapolitan tanning: caramel where the sunlight hits, milky way where it doesn't and pink when it's too much sun for the day) and then Donnie is this asian™ bean, so, sometimes they are mistaken as blood related brothers (Mostly cuz the eyez) and the stripes are the tanning y'all."

~ In addition, recently someone WOKE™ me up and reveled to me as in a prophecy, that Leon is Half-Chilenian, Half-Argentinian.

~ TBH yall, i just want my boy to do his thing and do them Fornite dances while some dope ass cumbias are playing, this is straight up my dream for real.

~Leon got those damn thick eyebrows more than Raph, plucks em to give em shape.

~Has a lot of scars. Leon is very active as Miguel but he is a troublemaker. Got several scars from fights: face, knees, knuckles, arms, legs. And that one time he came running to get his juice, slipped and smashed into the stove glass.

~Has wavy thick hair, keeps the top messy and fluffy and the rest shorter, undercut typo.

~LEON. USES. GLASSES. Period. But don't use em regulary, mainly cuz he's so active and sometimes clumsy and would rather not buy glasses everytime he goes out.

(Donnie, probably): "Leon, why don't you use your glasses? You are making your eyes even smaller trying to read that sign"

(Dumbo): "No, no! que dices weon? I only need the glasses when i'm reading!"

~Loves stripes in his clothing. In any shape and thickness.

~Low-key uses Donnie button up shirts because he does think Donnie looks so well in em, but he's a little more broad than him (Thicc bacc, bicc arms) so he had tear some up, or pop a button or too.

~Guy who would wear anything and don't give a shit if he doesn't have a defined style. One day he's with that graphic tee, flashy bermudas and some sandals and the other day using some jeans, saggy big sweater, a beret and some fine boots.

~ Loves boots more than sneakers. Got good traction with em. But no one can replace las CHANCLAS i'm telling you, he's so comfortable flipping & flopping.

~ He's hairy. Really hairy. Don't shave, except the faice. He's got that baby face and the trace of where the beard could be. It ain't that thick sandpaper beard aftershave tho, Raph taught him the tricks to the silk road.

~Them sideburns tho, neAT-O.

~He ain't got former training, just some random stuff he's learned from Donnie and Raph. Nontheless, he's the trickster and can go dirty on fighting just to save his ass. But sometimes, his big mouth saves his dumb ass from trouble. (2/100 times, the other 98 times it makes it worse)

~Plus: He's into parkour a lot. Takes Mikey out so he can tag some walls uphigh. These trips are the reason he gets in fights more than his other brothers, he's gotta stick out for his brother in case shit goes down, but mostly because he's a loudmouth and sometimes he deserves it cuz he starts the fire tbh.

The thing goes RAP - PHA - PHA

~ Raph, my soft boy. He still BIG™, ain't ripped like a physiculturist, gotta admit, abs are in fact chocolate abs but got a chunky yet funky tone to it. Big ass arms, to strong to carry my depression and smash all my worries.

~ Obviously African-American, I just imagine this warm undertone to his skin. Thick eyebrows (plucks out his unibrow, and nothing more, that natural angled eyebrow perfect as it is).

~ Hairy complexion (but not as hairy as Leo) to pull out a balbo beard, faded to his hair, then starts the faded high top, (not that high tho) with that cotton natural hair (raph is just my dream tbh).

~ My boy rocks denim everything. But got this particular worn off denim jacket he treats like one of his extremities. It's kinda saggy, old, several splashes of god knows what substances... But he wears it like the most precious thing, his brothers got him for his birthday, selling candy bars and other sweet goodies. Made him cry like a bitch.

~ Snaggletooth fang. I got this random HC that Raph got it in a fight with one of his brothers when he was younger. His first tooth after his decidious teeth, he was so happy, finally "maturing" in his words. In his younger years he struggled a LOT with angry issues, (mainly, as the oldest, he understood a little big more about the rejection above the city for mutants, and built up this feeling of despite).

One day, one of his brothers made him really fucking angry, they got in a physical fight, that ended with his crooked fang, but yet, Raph is BIG and he can't measure his strenght sometimes. Then, his brother is crying in pain, screaming how bad can he treat his brother, as if he didn't love them, just as the people above.

He wasn't angry cuz the teeth (cuz he showed it off, like it made him an adult already), he broke down because he was always feeling so damn angry, being the oldest and yet he was beating their younger siblings over some dumb shit and treated them like people in the surface would. Raph is challenged each day, when he sees his face in the mirror, with the tooth projecting outwards as reminder of all the rage he had to let go to protect their brothers, to make a change on his perspective and emotions, to keep their family and himself happy.

I think this mind set change was the thing that settled Raph as a leader. He got stronger, not physicially, but mentally and emocionally, for the sake of his family.

This HC can be translated somehow to the Human AU but i'm not sure the origin of Raph's rage yet.

~ Would wear any shirt that has anything he likes, PLUS if it is in red. He just loves red. He's the only one obvious with their color preference. Red caps, shirts, jackets, pants and tons of sneakers.

~ Likes jeans but loves that kind of bermuda cut shorts and not all the way down pants. He's got some C A L F S with capitals.

~ Luckily, he does wear matching socks. (We can't see Don's most of the time but Raph shows more leg so).

~Wrist wrist wrist wrist wrist wrist. Loves wrist accesories and probably would wrap around anything on his wrist.

~He's got that classic™ Rock Lee from Naruto bandages from training and work out and sometimes he's just to tired to take off the shin pads.

~Don't show em much but got some big ass brass knuckles in his pockets in case someone messes the fuck up with his brothers. (He would easily let go if it was just him, he's a master of templance, but be warned: not with his family)

Plus: Got one tatto, in his back, below the neck, this celtic rune (we know that celtic runes have several meanings, so he took one with various that would fit him) a Gebo, that can mean partnership, generosity and sacrifice.

DONNA TELL EM

~ For starts, Donnie is my asian bean. Creamy pale skin, monolid eyes, with that puffy under eyelid, of course noticeable dark circles, but he got that EYESMILE BOI. (You know that people who kept straight face but the eyes are just screaming happiness??? That kind of eyesmile)

~ Hair black, thin, straight cut (his hair is kinda wavy) at his shoulder's lenght, got that fade styling in the back tho, usually wrapped in a high ponytail/bun. (Mikey loves to mess with his hair).

~ He's got that thin eyebrow hair, so, he fills em up to make them thicker, so gives him more of an assertive feature. (Also he is jealous of Leo and Raph eyebrows, nontheless edge so sharp to cut a bitch) Got that hairless complexion so not much about facial hair.

~ Obviously keeps them THIGHS™. (So far, to me their complexion on the show is the same as in the human AU so... ) Jeans were invented to the sole purpose to fit Donnie so well.

~To wear, jeans are a go to, but damn sweatpants comfy AF. Big old sweatshirts, swearters and hoodies. Underneat, digs button shirts, short or long, never with flashy prints, yet some minor deco, (to him is all in the elegance....). Raph and Donnie share an interest on sneakers, so he can wear like 1 hoodie for 10 days straight but a different sneaker each.

~But wears missmatched socks like the fuck out of here BOI, looking neat and clean and you come out with this yeeyee ass bullshit.

~ Donnie hides the fact that he's riPPED under the hoodies and sweatpants often, (he's tall as shit and his brothers calling him spagethi bOI don't help much) so people make the assumption he's the weakest of his brothers. He's the only graduated on black belt on Karate and knows his shit on MMA. On his younger years he was indeed saved many times by Raph's strenght, Mikey's swiftyness and Leon's cunning. This "being the weak" complex got to his head and started training solo. His brothers are amazed of Donnie's self-improvement and he often disguises it as the "i did it so i wouldnt be the weakest, you better watch out when i supass yall" but they all know he suffered inmensely seeing his brothers hurt because of him, so if they go down he does too, to protect them.

Plus: Complementary headphones with neon designs, blasting nightcore, dubstep and DnB songs with every Donnie purchased.

BG:

In my AU, these kids grew up really poor. They learned the value of hardwork since they were really young. Like in the Teetle Universe, people see them as misfits. Especially, because they are a "patched up family" (they are not blood related) and being looked down by the economic factor, mostly.

They got some real internal issues. But, the only thing that keeps them sane is how tight their brotherhood is.

Donnie and Raph have a job and go to college. Struggle a lot with their younger siblings rebellious stage.

Leon and Mikey go to highschool and do some baked goodies or art comissions to have some sort of income. Ain't fond of school that much, real troublemakers.

April it's a freshman in college and has much more accomodated life, but somehow, she's always felt she doesn't belong to anywhere, until she meet our boys. April learns a lot of life hardships while hanging out with em.

This would be, basically the series:

April meets this guys, this is sort of a slice of life anime, with lots of comedy and fun shots, however it develops around April learning valuable lessons that will help her as an adult, about friendship, loyalty, respect, empathy and kindness, after all the things the boys are going through.

I'm not sure how am I gonna accomodate Splinter in this, but eventually I'll figure it out.

I'm not got at drawing but i'm gonna try to make some of their designs.

[blackevermore]

Twinkle Twinkle

[ Taz x Mikey ]

Summary: Taz came to NY for the holidays and brought lights

Genre: Wholesome 

Warning(s): None

Word count: 2,200

A/N: I was putting lights up for my grandmother and I could only imagine Me and Mikey having fun together. That’s where this short story comes from. I even threw in future comic plot twist (shhhh)

x Taz loved twinkling lights and mood lights. Not street lights that needed to be fix or neon signs that have been abused over the years, but little room and window lights she could hang. Back home, she made it a mission to decorate every window in her apartment with twinkling lights. Her bedroom was a beacon of mood lights that sat behind her headboard, dresser, and vanity for her changing light pleasures when she turned them on. She couldn't explain the way the lights made her feel without repeating the same string of words. The way the lite up the room and reflected off people's skin just felt good to see. It made her feel mellow and relaxed. But only in a private setting, not large city scenes or clubs. Those just made her uncomfortable and wanting to hurry home and hide under her blanket. 

x Christmas was a scapegoat for Taz to buy a shit ton of lights and abuse her rights to decorate. As soon as November 24th rolled past, she was running towards her favourite stores to snag every type of lights. When she told April, she was flying up to New York for the rest of December the poor girl didn't realize her cousin would bring a suitcase of lights with her. April refused to put up an argument when Taz went to work lining the windows. It was a beautiful sight, especially when Taz put in the work to spell out April's name across the pannels.

"What are you doing?" April poured herself another cup of hot chocolate and drowned marshmallows.

"I'm going to decorate the fire escape," Taz answered, slipping on her boots and coat quickly. She had a large bag strapped around her shoulder with more lights and rolls of tape.

"Where are you really going?" April rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip as she walked closer to her younger cousin. Taz gave a weak smile and shook her head, no use in lying to a news reporter and very nosy journalist. When Taz went to answer her April put up a hand to silence her, took a swig from her mug, then lowered it with an all-knowing look in her eyes. "Tell the guys I said 'hi' and that I'm sorry I haven't visited. Hothead boss has been down my back."

"Will do! Keep the window unlocked this time!" Taz slid the window frame up and climbed out. 

x In mere minutes Taz was humming down a familiar dark street and flipping through her social media. Laughing at comments left on her tiktoks and even replying to some. She heard the click of her heel boots over the abnormally large manhole she realize she had arrived. Getting to the lair was second-hand nature for her at this point. How in the world no one realized that the size of this manhole cover was bigger, then the rest was beyond her. That was the magic of New York, no one cared to give a damn if something was out of the norm unless it affects them directly.  In other words, mind your damn business, Karen. She placed the bag down beside her as she bent down to put in the code Donnie gave her. When the green dot lit up, she quickly shot to her feet and stood above the metal ring so it could lower her down. 

x "Guys!" Taz called out but was met with silence. It was rather dark, which meant that everyone was either really busy doing whatever or they were gone. "Yo Guys!" Taz called out again to make sure if they didn't hear her the first time they caught it the second. When she still didn't get an answer she shrugged and went over to the couch to place her bag down. They must have already been out on daily night patrol. She looked around the lair with warm eyes, it had been two and a half months since she's been here. It kinda sucked that no one was home, but that also meant she could decorate without protest from with Raph or Leo.

x Last year she asked to put up lights, and Raph was against it after Mikey made the 'okay' symbol hand sign right on the ceiling. Of course, everyone else thought it was funny, but Raph really wanted to bop Mikey on the head. Leo didn't necessarily care about the lights since they did look nice when he meditated. But he did care for Raph to not throw a fit. This year, however, Taz was going to hang designs above every brother's bed. She bought respectable colour lights for every turtle and even their dad.

x She pulled out her phone to check the time, it was 8:30pm, which meant she had about another two hours before the team would be back. She pulled off her coat and kicked off her shoes behind the couch. She had to get comfortable if she was going to be climbing on furniture, balancing lights, and taping them. She pulled out her phone and headphones and quickly plugged in to give her something to work to.

x She started in Leo and Raph's room and started with the red man himself. She pulled out the standard round cone red shell lights and started taping and dangling them around the makeshift headboard. She went ahead and wrapped some lights around the legs of the bed and under it so the floor would glow. She had also bought funny clip ons that said 'Red Hot' and attached them between a few lights. She moved on to Leo's bed and pulled out lilly-shaped blue lights. 

x She knew he was big about tranquillity, so flowers were a perfect match. She had to figure out how to make the flowers stick up instead of just slapping them on willy nilly. The slow song that was playing had just ended, and a faster beat kicked up, and her brain started turning. She started singing out loud as she figured out how to position the lillies around the bed. She settled on the idea of them hanging around the frame like a flower boat. She placed a flew lilly lights on the headboard, but most of them were around the bottom. When she was happy with her work, she picked up her bag and headed to the next room. Kpop started up and even without knowing the words she sang along.

x Donnie lights were more so a gag gift she spotted in the kid's aisle that she knew would make the others laugh. Star Wars theme lights with the Millennium Falcon and Tie ship lined against the wiring. Of course, these lights couldn't simply drape over his headboard. That was too easy for him to take down and throw away. She had to hand them above his head, with the ceiling being in a reasonable latter reach Taz went to work causing trouble. She finished the Star War lights then turned back to her bag to pull out more lights, they were all blue this time. Donnie was her favourite to poke fun at, but that didn't mean she didn't respect him. 

"OH AH AH AH AH!" Taz yelled at the top of her lungs as Down With The Sickness came on just as she tapped the last string of blue lights across Donnie's headboard. What Taz hadn't realized was that she was being watched by a very worried yet chucking rat dad who had been home the whole time. He was enjoying the pure joy the young girl was having as she set up lights in his son's room. Splinter was sure they would get a kick out of them as well. He wasn't going to interrupt Taz and went back to his room. This time with his own pair of headphones to block out her screaming-I mean singing. 

With Mikey's bed, Taz had picked out two sets of lights, orange hearts and pizza slices she somehow found at a thrift shop. Of course, she was going to go all out with how she set up Mikey's bed. This was her baby, her boo, her man, her silly bean sweetheart! She was going to make a princess canopy with the pizza lights (thank god she bought every set of them) and dangle the orange lights between the rows. First, she needed a ladder because standing on Mickey's bed was not going to help her. She went out to the living room and to a random closet she was sure the ladder would be in. Thank god it was or she would have spent the next hour trying to find it. She hauled the ladder back to the room and set in place. 

"Oye cariño, sólo pienso en ti / When I wake up in the morning until I go back to sleep." Taz was more proud of herself by saying the Spanish lyrics than her hanging skills. Mikey had been helping her learn Spanish for the past three months, and it was finally paying off. She thought it was weird how each other could speak a second language so fluently but couldn't speak the same language as the other. It did leave it up to the imagination when fights broke out. With the last set of lights tapped, Taz looked between the two beds and smiled in success. She took a step down the ladder, but her foot messed the bar, and she felt herself falling. She tried to grab onto the ladder, but a pair of hands grabbed her waist and pulled her down. Taz panicked for a moment then calmed down when she heard soft chuckles through her music. 

x She pulled a headphone out from her ear and hit Mikey on her shoulder.

"Why do I get attacked?! I saved you!" Mikey laughed and pulled her closer.

"Saved? You scared the hell out of my Angel. When did you get back? Wait! Raph and Leo haven't seen their room yet have they?!" Taz started on a long ramble of worry as the orange turtle sat there with wide eyes. Finally, he placed a finger over her lips to shush her, Taz narrowed her eyes then licked him to get it off.

"You know that doesn't work on me, and no they haven't, though I don't think you want Don to see his." Mikey giggled and point to the lights.

"Oh no, I do want him to see it, but it was meant to be a surprise." Taz sighed with slumped shoulders and threw the tape on Mikey's bed. "Well surprise." Taz pressed the light button on both power boxes for Mikey's bed to come alive and twinkle in patterns. 

"Oh wow babycakes this is stunning." Mikey had noticed the lights when he snuck in, but now that they were on, they looked terrific. As he watched the lights, Taz watched his face, the same face she made when she looked at lights. That lost but safe feeling that only the lights could give her when she was lost in thought. Mikey was like her in more ways than one and that made her heart beat faster. She tried to calm the flutters in her heart before he notices. She looked down to her hands to twiddle her fingers, but when she saw the tips of her fingers starting to glow, she threw them behind her back. 

x Not this. Not right now.

x "Oh, baby thank you!" Mikey snapped her out of her thoughts when he pulled her into a hug and kissed all over her face. Taz shook her head and pushed him away for a moment then pulled him into a proper kiss. Mikey wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up to spin in circles. When he finally let her down that's when they broke away for air. The couple was a giggling mess until someone at the door cleared their throat. 

x Donnie stood in the door unimpressed as he eyed his bed up and down. Taz held up a finger telling him to wait, there was more, she skipped over and pressed the power box, and the light came on. Donnie facepalmed.

"Star Wars, really? You could have gotten me anything else." Don groaned half-heartedly, not truly disappointment in Taz's shenanigans.

"Yeah but you're a nerd and nerds love Star Wars. Next time I'll get Star Terk or DnD just to make you happy."

"Ster Terk is a very respectable pop culture classic that could stand the test of time and still come out more successful with a new movie or reboot. Don't disrespect the classics." Donnie shot her a look and Taz rolled her eyes. 

"Mikey I'm going to go turn on the other's lights before they notice them. When I'm done help me decorate the rest of the lair before Raph tells me no?"

"Hell yeah!" Mikey replied as his baby girl ran across the living room to the other rooms. Leo and Raph gave her strange looks then turned to the youngest two to explain. Donnie threw up his hands and walked over to his lab and out of sight, and Mikey only shrugged.

[thelostandforgottenangel]

My hero

I can’t believe I forgot to post this... What is wrong with me wrote this days ago put in my finished folder but never shared...

Okay Mikey girl’s hope you enjoy @homra-the-red-clan @devilsnevercry1388 (If there are more of you wonderful girls let me know and I’ll tag you)

It had been one of those long horrid days that had effectively drained her of any energy she might have had and she was just ready to get back in the sewers and to the lair just so she could finally sit down

Morning training had been bad enough with Leonardo still a little ticked over the previous night’s patrol where one mistake had cost them not only the chance to find out what the Foot were up to they had let them escape due to Raph’s need to question their leader again, she hadn’t done anything wrong but when one of them messed up they were all punished with the choice of time in the Ha’shi or hours on end in Leo’s ninjitsu boot camp as she liked to refer to it since he was just as bad as any drill sergeant off TV.

Then for her classes to run a lot longer than she had liked and being piled with so much homework she had lost track of time at the library finishing all her homework just as the night security guard had tapped her on the shoulder telling her the place was closing making her realize she had stayed way too long rushing to stuff all her books and notes in the bag on her hip as she waved goodbye and rushed off but by the time she slipped into the subways bumping into a man by accident just trying to get down the steps she had missed the train kicking the ground

It was going to be the last one for the night which meant she was stranded

She grumbled under her breath glancing up at the security camera wondering if Donatello was monitoring it or if he was already out with the others, she headed for the street wondering if she could catch a cab but didn’t have any money on her since she had somehow left her wallet sitting on her dresser… Leo was going to kill her for missing patrol, Master Splinter would no doubt ground her - she needed to get home now but it would take over an hour running on the roofs but would take more than three on the streets and she knew there was no way she could jump over most of those spaces on her own

That left only one option which was to walk to a street close to April’s and go to the abandoned sewer tunnels close to Leatherheads place in hopes Donnie was still there

The teen had been walking for a while when she notices a man following her – in fact now that she thought about it and was aware of her surroundings he had been following her since she had left the substation she glanced to the busy streets moving acting like she hadn’t noticed he was there heading across the road as the light turned for the cross walk

Once on the other side she walked to the corner turning it as she searched for her phone glancing back to see the man had followed and was looking right at her

Instincts kicked in making her calmly assess the situation shifting her bag tightening the strap shifting a few things in it before moving her shirt inside to make it curve over her belly before she turned the next corner untying her hoodie from her waist and pulling it over her head keeping her hood on as she kept walking keeping her head down before ducking into a crowd of people going the other direction

For a moment she was sure she had gave him the slip when she pulled out her cell to call the guys seeing the battery was dead going to slip it into her pocket when a hand grabbed her arm yanking her from the street pinning her to the wall as a hand went over her mouth “Cute disguise kid - had me fooled for a moment but then I saw that pink sticky note on the back of your jacket” she swallowed hard before a knife was at her throat seeing the man who had been stalking her realizing he had put a marker on her to be sure he didn’t lose her as he pressed down over her skin gritting her teeth as he pinned her into the bricks a small sting making her whimper as he cut her neck slightly only making him hold her mouth harder

Fear consumed her body to the point she couldn‘t move the further the blade slid over her skin feeling the warmth of a blood droplet oozing down her neck tears prickling her eyes realizing he had no thoughts of letting her walk away from this much less letting her live

“Hey get off her!” she was shocked when the blade was yanked from his hand before the man pinning her was tossed across the alley getting a big gasp of air hearing the scuffle as she pressed into the wall trembling as the man turn and ran his head bleeding from a wound just in his hair line before she saw who was standing in front of her protectively looked up from behind a shell to see a bright smile and a pair of baby blue eyes “Damn – I swear you are too good at misdirection one moment I was looking at you ready to snatch you at the next alley then you were gone… man if it hadn’t been for him turning around and following you I never would have-”

A soft gasp was followed by a relieved giggle “MIKEY” she slammed into him hugging the smaller turtle as a shaky sob erupting from her throat clinging to him tightly her face buried in his neck as he lifted her to hold onto the trembling woman

He was quick to hug her back shushing the teen in his arms before he picked her up in his arms moving back into the shadows still clinging to her as she cried into his shoulder “Hey – shhh it’s okay baby girl I got you” she nodded as he pushed her back kissing her face until she was smiling for him checking her over slowly seeing the small cut on her neck gently wiping the blood away before pressing a kiss to it “There all better – that jerk tried to hurt my girl bet it scared you pretty good”

He chuckled as she nodded before looking around slowly hearing a siren getting closer to them pulling her into his grasp before backing up all the way down the way looking to the roof before lifting her up laughing at the fake pregnant belly rubbing it playfully once they were safely on the rooftop

“Okay babycakes here’s the deal - I told the others to not worry cause I had asked you to stop off at the store to grab me a few things… But I also snuck out to come help you so do you think you can help me by maybe running in the store and grabbing a case of orange crush and a few of those snacks I like so they don’t find out about all this – Please I got the munchies so bad and I promise to love my baby girl always for doing this for her favorite turtle”

She giggled pressing a kiss to his cheek nodding quickly

No words could describe how thankful he had thought to cover her butt when she had never come home plus risking time in the Ha’shi for sneaking to the surface to rescue her so she wouldn’t get in trouble was more then she could have ever asked him to do and was more than happy to return the favor

“Mikey store closes in ten minutes we better hurry and I’ll grab you something special for being my hero tonight along with anything you ask for”

[spectrumscribe]

mirror well.

a drabble i wrote in a fit of inspiration on my mobile, and have now edited into proper reading material.

lmao, canon never did address the effects the crystal incident might have had on April.

April opens her eyes to darkness, pitch and endless all around her. There is a far off sound of falling water drops, hitting the surface of the abyss beneath April’s feet with steady drips.

April sighs to herself, crossing her arms over her jumpsuit and waiting for the show to begin.

Echoing footsteps begin approaching somewhere behind her. April doesn’t give it the courtesy of acknowledgement. It starts talking anyways.

“You’re back so soon,” It purrs, predatory and awful. “Usually you hide from me for at least a week. Why so eager? Did you… miss me?”

April doesn’t look it in the eye, or at it at all. She still hears the grin in its words.

“I’d burn you to ashes if I knew how,” April says without inflection; keeping her back straight and her wits about her. “Just like you’d burn me to ashes if you knew how. Don’t take this visit as anything more than it is.”

“Oh?” It glides closer, inhumanly graceful. “And what is this visit, then?”

“A warning,” April has to keep herself from growling the words. Anger will get her nowhere here. “to stay out of my consciousness and out of my business.”

“But… messing with you is all I can do like this. And it’s so much fun!”

April breathes in slowly, and turns to face her doppelganger.

Her unwanted headmate smiles serenely at April; hair loose around its face being the only difference between them. April hasn’t worn her hair down since this monster ruined the look for her.

They have the same freckles, and jumpsuit, and same scars. But April sees cruelty in Za'naron’s eyes though, which is too vast an emotion for any human to have and not drop dead from.

Za'naron smiles wider, showing pearly teeth and dimples. “April, oh April. You deny any part in what happened, but we both know you’re misleading yourself. That man deserved to have his neck snapped, and you don’t regret making it so.”

April clenches her fists, quelling her rage. “I could have spared his life.”

“And yet you applied too much force to that throw, and broke his spine. A shame.”

April’s lip curls. “You’re a bad liar. You messed with my power output. You broke his neck. Don’t you dare blame that on me.”

Za'naron laughs, a note off from what April’s sounds like. “I’m the bad liar? Look who’s talking! Like you didn’t revel in feeling his pathetic thin bones snap, like you didn’t leave him in a heap without a look back.”

“We were in a fight, I had no time-”

“Ly-ing!” Za'naron sings. It grins viciously at April, twisting her own face into a mask of hatred. “You wouldn’t have looked back anyway. Face it, dear sweet April- you love having that power, and you love wielding it.”

“I never wanted this power,” April hisses, and Za'naron scoffs.

“You say that, and mean not a single word! Amazing. Did you forget how much you struggled? How you fought to gain every ounce of power you could, not even four years ago? How you watched those freaks move mountains with ease and think ‘why isn’t that me? Why can’t I have that?’” Za'naron walks towards April, grinning wider and wider. “You wanted power all along, April, and now you have it. And you love it.”

“I make the best of my situation,” April says evenly, staring down Za'naron without flinching. Za'naron sneers.

“You repress your natural inclination to destruction and reconstruction,” It says to her, close enough unreal breath ghosts on April’s cheeks. “You could reshape this entire world, could conquer tens of others- and yet you restrain yourself. Stifle your potential.”

“I live my life how I want to. Not how murderous alien monsters want me to.”

“Hm, and which one of us is that, exactly?”

April grabs Za'naron with her mind, and slams it into the solid water beneath them. It writhes in her invisible grip, clutching at its pale neck as April uselessly strangles it.

“I am nothing like you,” April growls, not quite recognizing her own voice, and yet so intimately familiar with her furious tone.

Za'naron laughs, high and wrong. “Is that so? Then why did you drop a ceiling on your Sensei? Why did you throw Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and even Casey off a building roof? Why did you kill Donatello?”

April doesn’t let that knock the air out of her, doesn’t let it punch a hole through her chest. She swallows dryly. “That wasn’t me.”

“Wasn’t it? Haven’t you dreamt of those things, over and over?” Za'naron smiles, soft and mocking. “Why do you remember those things and wish to feel that triumph again?”

April lifts her tormentor up into the air and slams it back into the water’s surface. A second time after, and a third, and a fourth.

Za'naron laughs at her the whole time, still indestructible against April’s best attempts.

“Just admit it to yourself!” It insists, not even pretending to be choking anymore, the inhuman shade it is. “Admit you want to destroy this filthy planet and rule over its fragments. Admit you want to be a queen, an empress! A God!”

“I want you to stay out of my business,” April says flatly, and drops Za'naron without ceremony. It hits the water with a short splash, stolen red hair plastering against its equally stolen skin.

It lies there as April steps over to it; staying limp as she places a boot on its chest and pushes down.

“You try anything funny again,” April crushes Za'naron’s unreal ribs with a pulse of her mental powers and will, cracking them into shards. “and I swear I’ll find a way kill you a second time, slowly. Painfully.”

Za'naron sneers. “And I’ll find a way to convince you again of your true potential, dear April.”

April steps away, feeling colder than the empty world of darkness around them.

“I already know well enough my own potential, thanks. I don’t need a beaten monster to tell me that.”

Za'naron’s laughter morphs, and with it the false face it’s wearing wavers. For a moment, April sees the corrupted angel it truly is, hidden under the mask of herself.

“Say hello to Donatello for me,” Za'naron taunts nastily. “I wouldn’t want him to forget me.”

April thinks of how Donnie still sometimes watches her use her telekinesis with careful eyes, or how he never looks at her in the eye when her hair is down. How none of her boys do.

“I highly doubt he could,” April says quietly, and turns away from Za'naron. It’s mocking laughter and taunts follow her as she leaves, ascending from the abyss her core has become.

When April opens her eyes a second time, the laughter fades into nothingness as warm light fills her sight. The dojo is peaceful and brightly lit, Leonardo nearby doing his own meditation. Though not as deeply as April had been, since he opens his own eyes as she sucks in a harsh breath.

“Got in too deep?” He asks, quirking a teasing smile. It changes into a sympathetic one not a beat later, warm and caring. “You know not every meditation session has to be so intense, April. It’s for relaxing, not straining yourself.”

Or, it’s for reminding your mind shade its place. Which is a million miles from April’s family and their friends.

April doesn’t tell Leo that, just like she never tells anyone else. The only person she ever even hinted this to is month’s dead, may her Sensei’s soul find peace.

“I know,” April says instead, ignoring the sensation of laughter that isn’t hers somewhere in the back of her mind. “I’ll try to keep things more casual next time.”

It’s long since smashed to dust, but April feels the weight of the crystal around her neck as she walks out of the dojo. But she doesn’t let it stop her from smiling at her family, and joining them for pizza.

The shade locked in her mind will remain where it is, and April has long since sworn it will never affect her loved ones ever again. She intends to keep that promise for as long as it takes to destroy Za’naron completely.

[tmntreasures]

Honor Among Thieves Ch.13

Note: Sooo... I felt like that last chapter was a little boring, and I’m honestly just in the mood right now so... Another chapter in the same day! :D

Everyone was hanging out in the main room of the lair doing their own things. Leo, of course, was training by fighting a wooden dummy. Donatello was tinkering with some electronic gadget at his station. Raphael was lifting iron, and Michelangelo was doing tricks on his skateboard. The two humans were placed on the couch, watching reruns of the F.R.I.E.N.D.S series while they braided each other's hair.

Bonnie huffed and shook her head. "Ross is such a tool."

Aida nodded in agreement. "No kidding..." she watched the show and giggled. "Joey though. He's a looker!"

"Eh.." Bonnie shrugged. "Though, at least he could make you laugh, so that's a plus. Even though It'd probably be at him..."

"So girls like a guy who can make them laugh?" Mikey said as he did a kick flip in front of the tv.

"Move your shell!" Bonnie swiped at him. "And of course girls do! Who doesn't like to laugh?"

"Well, Leo hates Donnies puns." Mikey shrugged.

Leo stopped from his training and threw up his arms in a ‘what the fuck?’ gesture.

Aida groaned, "Puns are different! No one likes those," she gestured for him to move. "Now get! Unless you want to join this braid train." She offered, thinking he wouldn't accept.

Mikey cruised over to them on his skateboard and hopped off of it once he had made it to the couch. He propped the board up against the side of the couch and looked to the girls. "Well, I don't have hair." He rubbed the top of his head. "And I don't know how to braid... I wonder if I could even do it with three fingers?" He held his hand up to his face and stared at it.

Aida sighed and snapped her fingers, pointing at the spot on the floor in front of her. "Sit. I'll try to do your bandanna tails," she only offered because she felt a little bad he probably couldn't maneuver his six fingers well enough for their thick hair.

Mikey clapped his hands excitedly and sat down Indian style in front of them.

Bonnie picked up his tails and gave them a few tugs before handing them to Aida. "Gurls’ hair is thiiick." She joked.

Aida laughed and continued, "Gotta layer this shit!"

Raphael looked over at the group and huffed, adding more weights to the bench press. He wanted to go over there and tell them Rachel was the best, but he didn't want to interrupt their girl-time. He laid down on the plank and began his reps, breathing heavily as his biceps and pectorals burned.

The three of them continued watching the sitcom while Aida worked on his tails. A few minutes later the sounds of heels clicking against the cement floor could be heard, and in came the reporter; April O'Neil.

Leonardo stopped when he heard her entrance and he turned to face her. "April!" He announced.

She smiled lightly and waved. "Hey." She looked around the lair and stopped once she saw the girls again. Her shoulders tensed at the sight of them. They looked so comfortable and at home with her turtles. "You guys are still here?" She placed her hands on her hips.

Aida looked over her shoulder briefly only to shrug, "Of course! It's fun down here," She said to make the reporter mad. It was fun now to toy with her, especially after hearing what Michelangelo had to say about her.

Raphael put the bar down and stretched his stiffening muscles before giving April a wave. He didn't vocally acknowledge her because he was too busy downing mouthfuls of water.

"April!" Donatello smiled, turning to face her. "What brings you down?"

Michelangelo had to look back over his shoulder as well to see her. "Hey sis!" He smiled and waved.

"Sis?" April echoed and raised a brow. "What happened to Bae?"

Mikey chuckled nervously. "Eh… Bonnie said I sounded like a total fuckboy when I used the word Bae. So I'm trying to be less of that." He shrugged.

April closed her eyes for a second and let out a tired sigh. "Well, I'm down here because I was hoping to hang out with you guys. Maybe go for a run or something above? Buuut if you're stuck babysitting..." She trailed off.

"We can still hang out." Leo said as he was wrapping his hands up with bandages. "They're only allowed to leave in the morning. So once night time hits, we can go!"

Hearing the little bit of jealousy in the reporter's tone made Aida smile, though she made sure to look at the TV screen when she did so, making sure it looked like it was the show making her grin. "Oh please. If anyone's babysitting, it's us," she muttered.

"Oh good! I was hopin' to get some rounds of cricket in with Raph!" Another new voice announced, but this time it belonged to a man.

 Aida furrowed her brow and quickly snapped her attention to the source of the voice. A human man hopped down into the lair, sporting shirt and leather jacket, jeans, and black boots. It looked like he was starting to grow his hair out, for it was a little uneven and would need a trim soon, but the bad-boy vibe was clearly emanating off of him.

The man had a hockey stick in his hand, which he used to point at the approaching turtle. "I think you're starting to get the hang of it man."

"It's a stupid game and you know it," Raphael grinned before fist bumping the man.

"Yeah, but it's so much fun to see you get mad," the man teased before finally noticing the other two human girls. His eyes widened a bit at the sight of the more curvaceous of the two; April had told him about the girls, but she didn't say anything about their looks. "So uh...you two are the ones who spooked April huh?"

Bonnie crossed her arms over the back of the couch and grinned at the man. "Guilty." She raised a hand. "Finally nice to see some man meat down here."

Mikey clicked his tongue. "What about us?" He whined.

"What about you?" She repeated.

Mikey crossed his arms and huffed. "It's the leather, isn't it?"

"A little bit." Bonnie gestured a small amount with her fingers and grinned again.

Aida shrugged and grinned a little. "It definitely doesn't hurt, that's for sure," she giggled a little bit. The man was handsome, but he was obviously too old for her. Of course that wouldn't stop her from admiring from afar.

The compliments went right to Casey's head, making him pop the jacket out a little bit. "I can't help it. Leather just feels so good."

Raphael frowned a little and found himself punching the man's arm to get him to snap out of it. "C'mon. It's the only thing you got goin' for ya."

The man tried not to wince from the punch, but he did roll his shoulder. "Yeaaah...sure." He paused and looked at the girl again and nodded, "You should try it sometime. Leather. It'd look good on you."

"Maybe I could borrow your jacket sometime?" Bonnie smiled suggestively.

"She means steal." Leonardo interjected.

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a bad girl." She purred.

"And by bad girl, she means a literal thief." He added.

"Ugh!" She groaned and turned to face him. She furrowed her brows and threw up her hands. “Why you gotta be cock-blocking me?"

"Because," April stepped closer to Casey and wrapped an arm around his. "Casey doesn't need any more trouble. Isn't that right?" She squeezed his arm tight with her other hand and looked up at him with a forced smile.

He cringed a little, wondering what his poor arm did in a past life to deserve this treatment. "Well a little more wouldn't hurt right?" He asked a little sheepishly.

Raphael crossed his arms. He felt a little miffed at their flirting. Though not just because April was there. Seeing Casey go at it with Bonnie made his stomach burn.

April dug her nails into his arm before letting go of him. "Wrong answer." She grumbled.

"Aah!" He winced a little. "Kidding! I was kidding April!"

Bonnie went to speak again, but Leonardo interrupted her once more. "Sorry Casey, but Bonnie's turning over a new leaf. Her life of crime is over, right?" He gave her a knowing look.

Bonnie clicked her tongue a looked back to the TV. "Yes, Dojo Daddy." She snickered.

"Oh god," Donatello groaned. "Don't call him that. It'll just inflate his ego..."

Bonnie sat back into the couch and crossed her arms behind her head. "Well, what do you suggest?" She raised a brow at Leonardo.

"Sensei." Leo answered.

"Hah! Yeah, that ain't happening." She shook her head with a smile. "Plus, you haven't taught me nothin’ for me to be calling you ‘Sensei.’ Mami over here is getting all the special treatment, with your jiu jutsu lessons and what not." She nudged Aida in the side with an elbow.

Aprils eyebrows perked at her last statement and she turned back to the turtles. "So… you're teaching them how to fight?"

"Really, it's only self-defense, aaannnd! You never asked!" He snapped back to Bonnie.

Aida looked over her shoulder, tying the ends of Mikey's newly braided bandanna. "To be fair, I live in the hood. Dojo Daddy is doing me a favor," she grinned. The nickname was catchy, plus it'd be a fun inside joke to have.

"If you ever want lessons, you can always come down more often April," Donatello offered after he rolled his eyes when the girl continued with the nickname.

"You guys know I'm busy... I'm a reporter, I've always gotta be looking for the next scoop." She frowned. "Buuut..." She bounced a foot. "The next time I have an opening; save me a spot in the dojo?" She smiled lightly.

"Of course April." Leo smiled back.

Raphael made kissing noises before laughing at Leonardo. "Better be careful Leo. Juggling two girls can be tricky!" He teased.

“I'll be sure to take advice from you when it comes to girls Raph." He crossed his arms and smirked, "or should I say Chris Brown?"

The red turtle clicked his tongue and crossed his arms, staying silent for now.

"Are they done?" Mikey looked back over his shoulder at Aida.

Aida stuck a lip out in a pout when April accepted his offer. "Yeah, you're good," she flicked the braid over his shoulder before patting the edge of his shell. "Next we'll do your makeup," she joked.

"Oooh!" Mikey cooed when he looked at the braid. "Good luck trying to find concealer that matches my skin tone." He laughed a little.

"So, are we going now? Sun should be setting in-" She stopped to check the time on her phone. "Fifteen minutes. Which means it'll be night time by the time we get out of the sewers."

Donatello finally shut off the computer and began to walk over to April. He paused and looked at Bonnie. "Remember, the password is right there," he pointed to the note and smiled. "In case you get bored."

Bonnie nodded and gave him a wink. "Got it."

Mikey turned around and rest an arm on a couch cushion. "Actually... is it alright if I stay in for the night?" He looked to Leonardo.

Leonardo blinked in surprise. "Why? He cocked his head.

April was just as surprised as Leonardo was and repeated his words. "Yeah, why?"

Michelangelo cringed at their interrogation. "Well uh... I- my stomach- my stomach kind of hurts." He lied, but rubbed at it anyways for added effect.

Raphael rolled his eyes and walked over to flick his head. "He just wants to flirt some more." He motioned for the little brother to follow and growled, "You're coming with us Mikey."

"Ooow!" Mikey wihinned and held the spot that Raph flicked. "Well now my head hurts!"

"Mikey..." Leonardo said sternly and nodded at one of the lairs exits. "Let's go. The girls will still be here when you get back. Right girls?"

"Yes, Dojo Daddy..." Bonnie said tiredly. Her eyes fixated on the tv screen.

"Siii," Aida nodded.

Raphael paused and looked between the girls. His gut told him something bad might happen so he pointed, "You two know where the emergency button is right?"

"Somewhere by Donatello's station right? That's where April ran off to the last time the alarms went off." Bonnie shrugged.

Casey snorted a little, still amused that April had felt threatened by the girls.

April rolled her eyes and huffed. "Look, wouldn't you be surprised to see other humans down here that wasn't us?" She bumped him with her hip.

"And what about weapons? You know where they're at?" Raph pressed on.

"Raphael calm down," Donatello intervened. "They'll be fine!"

"Yeah!" Aida nodded, "Plus Splinter is still here. So we're good."

Raph grumbled and looked at Bonnie for a long time. He just couldn't shake the feeling. Then again the last time they were left alone, April set off the alarm. Maybe he just needed to learn to relax.

Leo patted Raphael’s arm as he walked past him. "C'mon." He turned back and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Michelangelo!" He hollered out.

Mikey groaned as he stood up. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" He responded, but stopped and turned to Aida before leaving. "I wanna talk to you when I get back. So, wait up for me?" He winked at her and then ran off.

"Yeah? O-okay," she waved at him and suddenly felt very nervous.

Donatello waved and smiled at Bonnie, "See ya later!" Raphael just nodded at the girls before leaving.

As soon as they were gone, Aida turned to Bonnie. "What do you think he wants to talk about?" She asked nervously.

"I don't know," She shrugged and grabbed the remote to change the channel. "Comics, their Hip-Hop Christmas Album, perverted stuff? I never know with that guy."

Aida tapped her foot for a bit before crossing her legs. She didn't know why she was so anxious; it was just a conversation after all. Either way she took a deep breath and grinned. "That guy was pretty cute though!"

"Heh yeah… It's fun to rile up the news reporter, and easy too." Bonnie smirked.

She smirked and nodded. "Yeah no kidding. Little Princess doesn't like having people step in on her territory," she giggled. She stared at the TV screen and groaned after a while, slumping down in the couch. "Uuugh! This is boooring now!" She huffed and crossed her arms. "You don't...think they drink. Do you?" She looked at Bonnie slowly.

"I don't think so." Bonnie sat up and grabbed ahold of her ankles. She bounced her legs on the couch and sighed, "I've looked around and I didn't find anything other than rubbing alcohol. "

Aida stuck her tongue out and made a disgusted noise. After thinking about it, having alcohol around the giant turtles might not be a good idea. Even if it didn't kill them, who knows how they would act. The idea began to make her giggle and she looked at Bonnie. "If Leonardo ever got drunk, he would do karaoke, non-stop."

Bonnie laughed as well. "Fuck, now I really wanna see that!" She laid back against the couch again and sighed. "Man, now I really want some but--" She stopped and her eyes widened when she remembered something. "Wait!--" She sat up again and put her arms out. "Sake!!" She clapped her hands together loudly. "Sake is a drink right?!"

Aida nodded quickly, a smile appearing on her face. "Yeah! From China or Japan right?" She frowned a little and cringed. "Oh, but...it's Splinter's isn't it?"

Bonnie was silent for a moment before kicking back and groaning. "Ugh you're right! It's the rats..." She said defeated.

Aida hummed in thought. It'd be a long shot, but she figured it would be better than nothing. "Maybe...we could ask him?"

"The guy forbids us to wear shoes in the dojo. I doubt he's gonna let us borrow his booze." She scoffed.

"That's because it's part of the Japanese culture," the rat answered. He walked in with tray holding two very tiny cups. He set in down on the floor in front of the couch before he got to his knees. "Just like how the drinking age there is twenty."

Aida frowned, "But...I'm eighteen."

"Why do you think I only brought two cups?" He chuckled as he handed one to Bonnie. "I save this for guests or special occasions."

"So April and Casey have had this too?" She raised a brow.

He nodded. "Of course. But only when the turtles had gone out for the night." He took the second cup, "Just so they don't feel left out."

Bonnie giggled excitedly and stuck out her tongue at Aida as she took the drink. "Sorry Mami." She nodded and smirked.

She grumbled a little but turned her attention back to the rat. "Wait, so...they've never had alcohol?"

Splinter shook his head, "Not a drop."

She raised a brow. "Is it because they can't handle it?"

"No," Splinter chuckled again. "They're not twenty. Plus, it would take a lot for them to feel anything. And I don't want them to over-do it."

Without hesitation Bonnie threw back the drink, and immediately regretted it. The warm drink burned down her throat and almost came back up but she forced it down. Her eyes became watery and her nose runny. She coughed a couple of times to clear her throat. "Fuck!..." She hissed and wiped her mouth. "What does Sake mean? Dragon Fire or something?!"

The rat took a small sip from the cup, his whiskers tensing as he sighed. "Perhaps. It is a rice wine, so it's probably different from anything you might've had here."

Aida crossed her arms, feeling a little left out. "Hmph. I bet tequila is still better..."

"Mm... Definitely." She cleared her throat again and was quite for few seconds before holding out her cup to Splinter. "Hit me."

He chuckled and poured her another drink. "Impressive. Not too many people go for a second round." He filled her cup and was silent for a moment before smiling. "A few of my sons may not show it, but they all have high hopes for you."

Bonnie let out a laugh. "Hah. Well, I'm about to ruin that for them." She quickly downed the drink again, hissing afterwards. "Aah... just like everyone else." She said without thought.

Aida frowned at her and Splinter's ear twitches. "Oh?" He asked, sounding curious but also thoughtful. "How so?" He took another sip and filled her cup only halfway up this time.

"Hm?" Bonnie lifted her head a little, not realizing what she said at first. "...Oh! Well-- I just mean- Being a thief in general. Our whole society is disappointed right?" She lied quickly, and held out her cup again.

He knew there was something else she was hiding, but after years of raising four sons, he knew when to wait and when to pry. This was a waiting moment. "I wouldn't say that. There is still honor among thieves, after all. And you have not murdered anyone."

Bonnie laughed. "What? Like Robin Hood? Sorry to break it to ya, but I'm not that kind of thief. I'm bad, through and through." She grabbed the sake bottle and poured herself a small amount. "I love money, and shiny things and I'll take 'em from whoever I can. Rich or poor." She swallowed the drink whole.

Aida frowned at the words coming out of her mouth and couldn't help but think it had something to do with Bonnie's family.

"Well, you haven't stolen anything else so far since you've been down here." Splinter offered.

"I suppose you're right about that," she smiled weakly. "But that's only because like you guys! Kinda..." She crossed her arms and adverted her eyes. She was quiet for a long while before speaking again, though she still avoided eye contact with the rat. She fiddled with the cup in her hands. "How?... How did you teach them to be so forgiving? Us humans-- we're so fickle with the idea of forgiving someone that it sometimes takes years!... Sometimes we never forgive."

"It wasn't easy," He grinned. "But I have seen both cruelty and kindness. In the end, the kindness and forgiveness, no matter how foolish they may seem at the time, always have better outcomes." He finished his cup and sighed a little. "My sons could have left both of you for the authorities. Or they could have left you on the surface to be at the mad man's mercy." He pointed at the girls and nodded. "But they all saw potential in you, just as I saw potential in them when they were young." He leaned forward and gave Bonnie an intense look, "The only way you can be a disappointment is if you give up on yourself." He straightened his back, "Trying is all that matters."

She stared back into those dark eyes of his, fixated on what he had to her said.  She was quiet again in thought, and single tear escaped from her eye and trickled down her face. She sniffled and wiped at her eye. "You tricked me... I was supposed to get wasted with this," She held up the cup. "Not share my feelings..." She laughed awkwardly.

He raised his cup and smiled. "Well, in this case, I'm glad I could deceive you."

Aida looked between the two, completely awe struck at what had just happened. Granted the rat had years and four boys worth of experience to go off of, but it was still impressive watching him get Bonnie to open up like that. She felt even safer around the rat and made a note that if she were having any troubles that she should go to him.

"Also, they all like you." Splinter continued, pouring himself another cup. "Even Leonardo. I know he and Raphael don't show it very well, but they are happy to have you here."

"Okay, now the dragon water has gone to your head." Bonnie laughed again. "...Buuut. They're not so bad themselves." She shrugged. "Aida likes Michelangelo." She looked over to her and grinned.

Aida's eyes widened and she felt her cheeks blush. "Well, ya know...he's funny!" She tried to make it sound like it wasn't nearly as serious as it was. "A-and I have to take care of my siblings so it's nice to just unwind and relax."

Splinter raised a brow and pointed at her. "Oooh...so you must be the--" He stopped himself, realizing the drink was making his tongue loose. He cleared his throat and set his drink down. "Erm...nevermind."

Bonnie circled the rim of the cup with her finger not catching what he was about to say. She reached over the table and poured herself another drink and downed it. "Sso… I'm pretty sure-" She stopped and covered her mouth when she felt her stomach churn. She spoke again when it settled."...I'm pretty sure rats and turtles can’t intermingle." She clasped her hands together. "How did you guys, come to be?"

Aida nodded, wanting to change the subject. "Yeah! And how'd you guys get so...big?"

Splinter chuckled, knowing the question would come up sooner or later. Not to mention it would turn the attention away from his slip-up. "It all began years ago..." He had the story down to a science at this point; the only thing that ever changed was the years. He told both girls about the lab and how April had saved him and the little turtles; how they all grew and mutated and learned the art of ninjutsu. Now that more events had occurred, he made sure to inform the girls of them. How the turtles saved the world twice, how the Shredder has been gone for three years, and how the gangs of New York were constantly fighting for supremacy due to the Foot's lack of leadership. "And now...you are here," He ended his tale.

By the end of his story, Bonnie was feeling more than loopy.  She was halfway laying over the arm of the couch, her hands touching the concrete floor.  "And now, we are here." She repeated and slumped off the couch onto the floor.  She giggled. "Onnne hundred feet under! Or something- I don't know, math wasn't my best subject. I was better at p.e."

Splinter chuckled and stood up, taking the bottle and two cups. "It's okay. I'm not good at math either," He waved at Aida and grinned. "Good luck."

Aida gave him a look of disbelief, "Wait...you're leaving me with her? Alone?"

"I need to sleep," Splinter yawned as he walked away. "Plus I'm too old. Good luck!"

She tried to chase after him, but knew it would be unwise to leave Bonnie alone in her current state. She sat on the couch and grumbled. "Yeah well...Donatello can be your tutor."

"Ooh, the handsome one?" She cooed and giggled. "Nah, I don't wanna go back to school. It fucking sucks." She rolled over and got onto her hands and knees. "I'm done with that scene!" She turned up her nose and began to crawl off in no particular direction.

Aida snorted and began to giggle, immediately getting out her phone. "Ooh this is too good!" She would help, of course...but not until she got some funny pictures.

---

Two hours passed and the turtles were on their way back to the lair.

"I think you may have hurt April's feelings, Michelangelo." Leo said as he marched through the murky waters.

Michelangelo's face scrunched in confusion. "Aww, what?" He asked.

"With wanting to stay behind and all?" He looked back over his shoulder at him before facing forwards again.

Michelangelo groaned. "I didn't mean anything by it... I just-- I just wanna spend more time with the girls before they go." He rolled his shoulders and crossed his arms.

Leonardo raised a brow. "I didn't know you liked them more than April?"  He inquired.

Mikey clicked his tongue. "I don't! But-- I just. April, she's part of our life now, but these girls... Once everything blows over, they have no reason to stay any longer. I just want to get to know them more before they go." He looked down into the waters and sighed.

"What a nice way to say 'I wanna try to bone them.'" Raphael teased him. Though as he thought about it, Michelangelo had a good point. There would be nothing keeping them here, or even a reason to visit. Once they were free, they'd be gone.

Mikey groaned again and rolled his eyes. "Right cause, I could definitely seduce them with this mug." He grumbled.

Leonardo stopped at his words. Usually when Raph taunted him like this, Mikey would snap back with some obnoxious remark about how much more irresistible and sexy he was than his larger brother. He turned on his heel slowly and faced Mikey, cocking his head curiously.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Mikey?"

Mikey shrugged. "They're more-" He pursed his lips. "More down to earth... Real? It's gonna take a lot more than this pretty face-" He brushed his cheek delicately with a hand. "To bed them."

Leonardo pointed at him. "That's more like it."

Mikey laughed a little. "But really! I know you won’t, but I am gonna miss them." He nodded.

Leo's brow twitched at his last statement. "...Why do you say that?"

"You said it yourself... It was all part of the mission, remember?" Mikey shrugged.

"Yeah Leo," Donatello nodded his head. "Unless...you really do have a heart in there somewhere." He grinned.

"Aw c'mon guys. Of course Leo liked 'em!" He wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders before adding. "I mean, did you see the way he was wrestling Lil' mami?" He chuckled and shook his brother lightly.

"I have a heart." Leo shrugged off Raphael. "I'm just not as easily trusting as you guys." He crossed his arms in defense. "I mean, they are criminals, and we've known them for less than a week."

"Well...to be fair, they haven't done anything since they've been down here." Donatello shrugged. "Aida goes to the surface every morning. That's plenty of time to prepare for something or even do something. And she hasn't." He pointed at Leonardo and continued, "And! Kleptomania is a serious problem. Bonnie's not a criminal, she just has...mental...health problems?" He tried to make it sound good but it wasn't working too well.

"I know, I know…" He nodded and looked down to the water. He grew silent in thought, hesitant to speak again.  "...I like Aida a bit. We've shared stories and such about our siblings." He smirked and kicked up the water. "Bonnie is... fun to tease?" He sighed. "I'm not just worried about us though, I worry about them too. The longer they stay down here and know us, the more trouble it could cause for them because they know us." He looked back up to his brothers. "We're starting to build a collection of humans we gotta look after."

Donatello frowned. He hadn't thought of it that way before. If something were to happen to these girls, they could be responsible for it. In this case, ignorance was safety.

Raphael on the other hand grumbled. He was just starting to warm up to these girls and he wasn't about to let that effort go to waste. "Then we check up on 'em. They're our responsibility now anyway right? We might as well keep tabs on 'em." He tapped Donatello's arm. "Donnie can hack their shit right?"

"I could," he shrugged.

"And, we could teach them even more self-defense! I mean you've already got them started with jiu jitsu! Just throw in some akido, and taekwondo!" Mikey added.

Leonardo hummed and tapped his finger against his arm. He wasn't able to argue with their logic other than repeating what he had just said. He huffed and turned back around, walking again. "I suppose we'll have to now."

Mikey grinned and ran up alongside of Leo. "Sooo, we're keeping 'em in our collection then?"

He sighed, but smiled down at his smaller brother. "So long as they want our protection."

"Yes!" Mikey fist pumped the air.

Raphael smirked and actually gave Donatello the high five he raised his hand for. Now the practice he was doing with the egg wasn't all for nothing.

"Oh good! Cause now I can tell you all...Dibs on Bonnie!" Donatello joked, laughing and reassuring his red brother it was a joke after he hit his arm.

Leo smiled again while shaking his head. He flinched when he heard someone wailing in the distance. "What the?..." He started and then dashed off to the lair. Michelangelo followed quickly behind.

He drew his swords and got into a defensive stance upon entering the lair. His eyes quickly scanned the area, but found nothing out of place other than Bonnie on the floor instead of the couch. She was whimpering and sniffing back her tears, while Aida stood above her shaking her head. Leo cocked his in confusion, and put his katanas back in their sheaths.

"Yo... Everything alright?" Mikey called out to them.

"No! Everything is not alright!!” Bonnie hissed. "This little girl won't let me have the scissors so I can cut my hair!" She glared up at Aida.

Aida scoffed and pointed down at the belligerent girl below. "News flash: puts drank too much of Rat Dad's sake. So I'm trying to make sure she doesn't make any bad choices!" She glared down at the girl.

Donatello frowned and approached them, hoping to be of some help. "Why would you want to cut your hair? It’s cute the way it is!”

Bonnie snapped her attention to Donatello and narrowed her eyes at him. "Shut up! You don't know nothing about being a girl!"

"You still want dibs?" Mikey leaned over to Donatello and snickered.

Donatello laughed a little, finding her attitude to be a little funny. "You're right. To be fair, I don't know anything about having hair either." He paused for a second and then whispered back to Mikey, "Y'know, Raph seems like he'd be able to handle her better than I would."

Raphael scoffed and he walked off. "I know what'll snap her out of it..."

"Wait... Splinter let Bonnie have his sake?" Leo was now utterly confused, and felt a bit envious of the girl.

Aida nodded, "Yeah because she's the legal drinking age." She huffed a little, "But apparently! Eighteen is still too young!"

Bonnie cackled. "That's right! You, yooouuungiiinsss, can't handle the dragon water!" She pointed at Leo with a foot. "You too small… Both in body and mind!"

Leonardo crossed his arms at her and huffed. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" She nodded at him.

"How about you stand up?" He raised a brow.

Bonnie closed her mouth and stared downed at the floor.

"Thats what I--"

"I can stand up!" She snapped and jumped up on her feet. She used her knees to push herself up and straighten out her back. Once she was up she put her hands to her hips and puffed out her chest. "See?" She said before stumbling back and having to grab onto the table behind her for support.

“Thought,” Leonardo finished with a smirk.

Aida tried not to snort but wiggled her phone, "You should see some of the pictures I got..."

"Oooh gurrrlll!" Mikey ran over behind Aida and peered over her shoulder. "Let me see!"

Out of nowhere, a stream of water shot out at got Bonnie in the face. Raphael chuckled as he pumped the bright yellow water gun for another shot. "This'll get her sober!" He raised the plastic gun and took aim before pulling the trigger again.

Bonnie yelped when the water had hit her and spit out the excess that had got in her mouth. She snarled at Raphael. "You red banded bitch! I'm gonna turn you into turtle soup!" She shook a fist at him, but still held onto the table with her other hand.

Leonardo chuckled, "It's been a while since we've heard that one."

Raphael laughed and beckoned her over. "Well come, do it then!" He teased, knowing she couldn't take a step.

Donatello made his way over the Latina girl as she began to open up the pictures. "She did a lot of crawling," Aida giggled, showing them a picture of the girl sprawled out on the floor with her legs still on the couch.

Bonnie growled again when he egged her on. She knew as soon as she took a step away from the table, she'd be on the floor again within seconds. Her nails dug into the table as she tried to think of a scheme.

"Bon-Bon, you look like a sloth in this picture!" Mikey laughed.

Bonnie tapped a finger on her bottom lip and looked to Raph with sultry eyes. "Why don't youuu, come over hereee?" She curled her finger at him.

Raphael paused for a second and just stared at her. He knew it was a trap, her drunken state couldn't fool him, but something compelled him. Very cautiously he took a step forward. When nothing strange happened he kept going, keeping the water gun pointed at her. "What...?" He mumbled, peering at her above the top of the toy.

"Gimme that!" She swiped at the toy with her free hand and grabbed it by the nozzle. She tugged on it, trying to take it from the turtle, but without the aid of her other hand, it wasn't going to happen.

It didn't take a lot of effort on his part to keep the gun in his grip; in fact, it made him giggle a little bit to watch her struggle. He looked over at Donatello grinned, nodding down at his finger. The purple-clad turtle's mouth hung open and shook his head, but Raphael was nodding. With one pull, his finger gripped the trigger, spraying water on her shirt.

Bonnie gasped and yelped again. This time she let go of the table in shock and fell straight on her butt. It didn't look hard, but she started crying anyways. "You big dumb turtle! This is my favorite tank top!!" She whined dramatically.

Leo placed his hands upside his head and cringed. "It's a good thing we don't have neighbors!"

 Raphael and Donatello cringed, but the red-clad turtle put the toy down. "Just wash it! It'll be fine!" He tried to reason with her, hoping it would calm her down.

"Do you have another one here?" Donatello tried asking, hoping the other option would sate her. Never before did he think a crying girl would sound so painful.

"You wash it!!" She hissed before quickly removing her top and throwing it at him, not caring if the boys saw her in her bra. It was a black sports bra and the top half was made of mesh, revealing her cleavage.  "It's your fault anyways..." She crossed her arms under her chest and pouted like a child.

Leonardo’s eyes widened a bit when she removed her top, and his cheeks blushed a light pink. This was the closest he got to seeing almost naked breast in real life, and though he would never admit it out loud; they were a pretty nice set. "Uuh... You guys-- got this right? I'm gonna-go train in the dojo." He stated before quickly leaving.

Donatello felt his cheeks burn and he turned away, clearly embarrassed at her sudden lack of clothing. "H-holy! Uuuuh...! R-Raph? You got this?" He covered his eyes. "I don't...uh...I d-don't think I can move..."

Raphael blushed a bit, but since he had already seen what was underneath weeks ago, seeing her bra wasn't nearly as bad. "You're really gonna trust me with washing your favorite shirt?" He asked, catching the piece of clothing. "Alriiiight," he shrugged his shoulders and grinned a little, "But don't get mad at me if it changes color."

Mikey chuckled and tapped on Aida's shoulder. "And, that's our cue." He nodded off in a direction and gestured for her to follow along with his hand before walking off.

Aida furrowed her brow for a second before remembering that Michelangelo had wanted to talk before. She felt herself get nervous and looked back at Bonnie. She wished the girl wasn't drunk; at least then she could ask her to stay nearby and jump in if things got weird. She hesitated a bit but then decided it would be better to do this now than wait. She looked back at Michelangelo and sighed remorsefully before following him. "Okay..." She spoke, trying to sound genuinely curious instead of anxious. "What do you wanna talk about?"

Michelangelo had taken Aida back to his room. It was surprisingly cleaner than most would expect, but it still had his essence. Comics, dvds, and cds were stacked in various places of the room. Posters of musicians were hung about the walls, and there was a mini fridge in one of the corners.  He popped it open and pulled out a soda. "Do you want one?" He asked and held it out to her.

Aida shrugged and took the can, not opening it just yet. It was nice to have something in her hands, especially as she looked around his room. "Man...some of this stuff I haven't seen since I was a kid..." She looked a CD case and smirked a little. "Britney Spears? That's your jam?"

"Hey, late ninetys and early two thousands Britney was where it was at." He pointed at her. "...Baaaby, I'm so into you. You got that something, what can I do? Baaaby, you spin me around. The earth is moving, but I can't feel the ground!" He sang as he danced around the room, finally stopping once he got to his bed. He plopped down on it and kicked back into a relaxed position.

She laughed a little but stayed standing, still looking through the CD's and comic books. "Yeah, no kidding. I feel bad for her, going nuts and shaving her head." She snapped her fingers and pointed at him, "Toxic! Now that is her best one!" She spotted a superhero comic and smirked, recognizing the hero. "This is Riqui's favorite hero. He used to be Montae's too, but I think he's starting to grow out of it for now."

"Well hey… If you wanna bring that issue back to them, I don't mind." He smiled and shrugged.

She looked at him and smirked, "Wait...are you serious?"

"Yeah!" He nodded and sat up on his bed. "I've read that one plenty of times, and there's a lot of other comics here that I still need to read, so I won’t miss it."

"Aww! That's so sweet," She smiled at him and nodded. "Thanks, Mikey." She put the comic issue in a spot she would remember to pick it up from before finally sitting next to him. She opened the soda and took another look around, "Ya know...you got a nice spot. For it being in the sewers and all."

He chuckled. "Thanks. Splinter is pretty strict on keeping it tidy. If we don't..." He heistated to speak, grimacing at the thought. "He gets the bleeds."

Not knowing much about rats, Aida thought he was talking about periods. But that couldn't be right since Splinter was male; the idea of the rat lying to them like that just so they keep their rooms clean was a little funny. "Wait...the bleeds? Like..." She hesitated, thinking it was stupid, but she had to know. She pointed towards her crotch and cocked her head, "These bleeds?"

Mikey's eyes widened and his face twisted again. "N-No!! Worse! Kind of... Well, actually I don't know." He rubbed at the back of his neck nervously. "When rats aren't kept in a clean environment, their noses start bleeding.. And sometimes the eyes. It's really freaky."

"Eugh!" She recoiled. The idea of blood coming out of the eyes just because something wasn't clean. It gave her a great idea to pull on her siblings however for April Fool's or Halloween though. "That sounds awful!"

"Yeeeah... It kind of traumatized Leo, so now he gets into cleaning spells." He stopped and smirked. "Sometimes we'll bring it up to get him to do our chores."

She smacked his arm a little playfully and shook her head. "That's mean! But...that does explain why he keeps checking mine and Bonnie's room. Don't know why he didn't just say something." She grumbled. After thinking about it, she shook her head. "You guys are really somethin' though."

Mikey chuckled again before sighing. "Sooo..." He patted his knees. "The reason why I wanted to talk to you..." He started.

She tensed up a little and took a sip of the soda nervously. "Yeah?" She felt her voice crack a little even as she tried to calm herself down. Perhaps it was nothing. After all, she could just be reading too much into it. He was the friendliest of the four brothers, so maybe he actually had something decent to say? Yet none of those thoughts could stop her heart from pounding nervously.

He gave his knees one hard slap and then turned to her quickly. "Okay! I'm just gonna spit it out, so here goes." He took a deep breath and exhaled. "So, Splinter basically gave me the go ahead to fall in love! Which is awesome because, I've been wanting to fall in love forever, but Leo is always such a pain in the ass about it, saying stuff like… It'll never work, we're different than them; ya look like that one ogre guy." He huffed.

She snorted at his last comment but then her mind began to race. Was he about to spill feelings for her? It was a bit soon but the turtle only knew three other girls. Maybe he didn't know the difference between a crush and love yet? However, her anxiety made her simply take another drink of soda before saying, "Okay...wh-what does that have to do with me?"

"Well," He licked at his lips. "I was wondering... I can't really talk about this kind of stuff with April, and Bonnie seems a little," He cringed. "Harsh... But you are like the middle ground. So I was wondering if you would like- Help give me advice on how to woo girls." He chuckled nervously.

"O-oh...!" She felt her heart slowdown in relief, but something in her gut twisted a little and her blood began to heat up a bit. "Well, I mean...it'll still be hard. But...I guess it would help to know what kinda girls you're into?" It seemed like one big joke. He couldn't seriously be asking for dating advice. There was no way.

He laughed again. "Well… The only girls I've met is you, Bonnie and April. You're all... pretty different." He shrugged. "But uh... I guess I'd like a girl who knows how to eat? And uh, someone who likes jokes?"

She frowned a little and had to think about it for a bit; though the longer she thought, the more disappointed she felt. She couldn't shake the feeling but had to come up with something. "Hmmm...I can't think of anyone off the top of my head, but I'm kinda on the spot right now," she chuckled a little and fiddled with the tab on the can. "I might have some better advice later? Or tomorrow perhaps?"

"Yeah, yeah! No worries." He waved her off. "But uh- Thanks for agreeing to help me." He smiled at her warmly. "I'll try not to be too annoying about it."

She nodded at him and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll tell you if you are," she shrugged and grinned. "Plus, it'll be a good back-up plan to use on you in case my brothers ruin your comic. Like, yeah it's crinkled, but remember when I hooked you up with your soul mate?" She made finger guns at him and made clicking sounds with her tongue.

Mikey laughed again. He leaned back and crossed his arms.  "I suppooose that would make up for it." He joked back.

She stood up and pointed off back to the main lair, "So uh, I'm gonna make sure Bonnie hasn't taken off more of her clothes." She paused and grabbed the comic before holding it up with a smile. "Thanks again. I swear I'll bring it back."

"No problem." Mikey smiled again. "I'll see you in morning!-Well, more likely late afternoon."

[amunetred]

Black and Blue

A/N: Chapter 2 of Leorai Week, Fantasy.  Be sure to read Chapter 1, Black and Blue first, because I’m writing my 7 days in the form of a consecutive short story. #blackandblue

Some days I’m sure I’ll lose to fate

Some days I cannot find my faith

But I just fight on

I just fight on

I just fight on baby

– Sia, Black & Blue

 Chapter 2

Fantasy

As he breeched the surface of the tunnel the flicker of red light, the flame, grew steadily brighter.  He climbed out, allowing more of the warm red glow toward my eyes. Then he hauled me up.  What I hadn’t expected, hadn’t had a chance to block as I climbed to my hands and knees, was his foot to my stomach sending me rolling across the cavern floor, smashing my head against a rock.  Then that flicker of firelight, extinguished….

“Are ya okay, human? Ya hit yer head on that tree branch pretty hard.”

What? Tree branch my ass, it was a damned rock.  I opened my eyes, prepared for the darkness of the cave, but the sky was bright, the sun- where the hell was the sun? Where was the rip in the universe? Where was the Dark?  

“Uh, if we’re going to catch the boat we need to keep moving.” A green, three-fingered hand thrust itself into my face.  “Here, let me help you up.”

My eyes locked on the familiar scar across his knuckles, my heart skipping beats as I lifted my gaze to meet eyes brighter than a neon sky. But something wasn’t right.  What the hell was Leonardo wearing?  A cowboy hat?  Carrying six shooters?  I scampered to my feet, quite unlike an elegant kunoichi. Dirt wafted into the air coating my- what the hell was I wearing?  The jeans were fine, but leather chaps?  Cowboy- I mean cowgirl boots?  As I dropped my gaze to a button down shirt and open tasseled leather vest, the brim of a hat slid down shielding my eyes.  Oh, what new hell is this?  

“Come on, human, we ain’t got all day.”  

Raphael?  My head snapped up, and I shoved the hat back, rebalancing it on my head.  Don’t know why I didn’t take the damn thing off, except that it did take the sharp white glow off things.  Oh gods, Raphael doesn’t look right either.  I took in the turtle wearing chain-mail and a clunky metal helmet.  Oh gods. Not just any metal helmet.  The Kuro Kabuto.  I swallowed hard.

“Get up, already.  Gees, I still don’t know why we gotta drag you along. It ain’t like yer a wizard-” Raphael pointed to Michelangelo, who wore a purple gown covered in large silver stars, wielding—Splinter’s staff.  My stomach turned.  What was this?  What was happening?  Had I gone mad?  Is this what April felt like, all crazy and confused? But Raphael pointed to her next. “Or useful like a psychic.”

The spunky redhead wore a yellow organza gown that reminded me of Belle from Beauty and The Beast, the ridiculous musical movie that was visually stunning, yet annoying at the same time.  But Michelangelo had insisted we sit through it.  

Raphael growled.  “Are ya even listenin’?  Good for nothing, human.  Not useful like turtle-genius over there.” He pointed to Donatello who looked… well exactly like Donatello.  Except for the horn-rimmed glasses.  What was that white bit between the lenses?  Had he taped them together?  

“And ya sure as shit ain’t a princess.”  Raphael half-bowed in a very I-just-entered-the-dojo sort of way, then mumbled a sad excuse for an apology.  “Sorry fer cursin’, yer Highness.”

Your highness?  

My eyes coasted over the wizard, the psychic, the genius, the warrior, and Leonardo’s outstretched hand- vaguely I wondered what role he played- then I lost a breath.

A white kimono, folded perfectly at the waist, covered in pink cherry blossoms beneath a slender neck, lead to the most beautiful oval face I’d ever seen.  My eyes filled. “M-mother?”  

“Don’t be ridiculous?  How hard ya hit yer head?”  Raph reached out to swat the back of my head and I lifted a hand to block him but found my reflexes too slow. What was wrong with me?  I wasn’t moving right.

Fortunately, Leonardo blocked Raphael’s attempt and offered me his hand again.  “As I was saying, we are all important.  Everyone serves a purpose.  Give me your hand, we’ll get you on your feet and still make our ship if we leave now.”

The entourage made their way, April first, then Donatello, Michelangelo, then Mother, Raphael, then Leonardo and I trailed behind.  What was my purpose?  I could sense I was no longer part mutant.  None of my serpent instincts present.  I had none of my kunoichi reflexes.  I glanced down at my waist.  I wasn’t even carrying guns, like Leo.  Though we were dressed the same.  

I glanced from side to side, to the square and rectangular buildings that resembled something out of a western movie.  I wouldn’t know that much about their appearance had Raphael not insisted we watch westerns to begin with.  Ugh.  Too much television.  

At the end of the dirt road was a river, a long white ship with masts spread as though there was wind in them, though no breeze blew. We were the only passengers, boarded together and spread about as we set sail on a windless sea.  

Leonardo was tying a rope to something I could not see. But he was there, fit and beautiful, younger than I knew we were.  He glanced at me beneath the brim of his hat, a semi-smile curving one corner of his mouth before he looked away.  I was set to approach him, to try to talk to him, but what would I say?  Why have you turned your back on your family?  On me?  I love you.  Come back with me.  Come home. But this wasn’t the Leonardo I was struggling with, nor was it the one I knew and loved, and yet he was at the same time.  My feet inched toward him like magnets propelled by a force I could not stop, yet I resisted because this made no sense and it was futile.

The ship landed and the crew formed their marching line again, down the ramp into another town.  This one had a corral right by the shore, with hay bales stacked near a post board fence, men trying to sell guns offering different models up for target practice.  Leonardo tipped his hat at me then bowed before the princess- my mother.  “Ma’am I have some business to attend to.  I will rejoin you later?”

She nodded graciously and he ventured toward the market.

As I followed the procession deeper into the city a strange sensation began to build.  My feet wanted to gravitate to Leonardo, yet my hands ached to connect the people ahead of me and bind them together somehow.  

This city was different, carved of white stone, sculptures of turtles where gargoyles might rest.  The statue of a rat- Splinter- my father, in the center of town square.  

“We have to find it.  It’s here somewhere.” Donatello pointed East, to a building with giant columns resembling a museum. “Should we spread out and search, Majesty? Perhaps the archives will hold a clue.”

Michelangelo pointed Splinter’s staff toward the South, the sea calm waters below.  But it was the stars glowing above in a daytime sky that he spoke of.  “We should follow the constellations.  They know the way.”

Raphael, even in a knight’s armor still wielded his sai, pointing one toward darkness in the North.  “We’ll find it beyond the battle.  They’ve taken it, I know they have.  But I can get it back.  Send me, your Highness, I can get it back.”

April let out a grunt as she squint her eyes and rubbed her brow.  “I’m sensing something there to our West.  It’s there.  I-I can-feel it.”

My mother was silent, never spoke a word as she looked to me.

Hell if I knew which way to go.  I didn’t even know what we were looking for.  I swallowed hard.  She was so beautiful, her lashes long and dark over gentle brown eyes.  I opened my mouth and a question popped out. “What is it you’re looking for?”

She didn’t answer, only smiled.

My heart was galloping.  Whatever she wanted I would help her find it.  She tipped her head toward April, who began leading us toward a white arbor, woven with bright red roses.  She stepped through but I didn’t see her come out the other side. Donatello went next, then Raphael, Michelangelo, then my Mother.  A great sense of dread enveloped me as I approached what should be a garden entry.  I realized the world had fallen silent. There was no echo over the town, not from the men target practicing, not from the people shopping, coming and going. I looked around.  All of the townsfolk stood still as if paralyzed.  Leonardo turned as I glanced toward the range, his eyes meeting mine.  He was far enough away that I shouldn’t have been able to hear him.  Yet I did.

“Go on.  You’re more powerful than you think.”

I don’t know why I believed him, maybe my brain didn’t, but my heart knew.  My blood burned, my heart pumping hard as I approached the arbor, peering into the blinding white beyond.  I stepped through, blindly, knowing I was only human and had no power, but believed the fool turtleboy who’d promised me otherwise.

I tumbled downhill, noticing everything was varied shades of white and hard, the path beneath me marble that sparkled like diamonds. I landed on my butt in the center of a white circle, scanning the four white columned buildings but not seeing my friends- my family.  But I heard them screaming.  

“Help! Help us!”

Above me they were rising into the sky their bodies spread eagle, like skydivers in reverse.  They clawed at the air as clouds swirled above them at their center a black hole opening, surely to swallow them up.  

“Help!”

Only my mother never opened her mouth, while the rest screamed.  

My feet dragged across the marble but while my torso stretched toward the sky, I refused the pull.  Simply denied it.  My palm lifted to the sky, great energy building inside me, searching for a way out as my feet bound to the ground.  Warm white light appeared to outline my palm, it stayed there as I willed my family to me, slowly curling my fingers in as they drew nearer with every breath.  

Come back.  I’ve got you.  Stay with me. Please.

My mother was first, she reached for April, who reached for Donnie, who reached for Mikey, who reached for Raph.  But it was Mother’s fingers, her silken hand that interwove with mine.  

I had them.

Then my feet began to drag, the marble peeling away like soil beneath my boots, leaving grooves.  No.  I searched, looking behind me for something to grab onto.

There he was.

Leonardo’s hand grasped mine and I was complete.  “I’ve got you.  Hold on, you’re more powerful than you know.”

My eyes were wet, my breath fleeting as I gasped.  “You keep saying that. H-how do you know?”

He smiled and I wished it were real.  Wished it true.  That he was there with me and I could touch him, feel the strength of him as he literally grounded me.  “Because, you are their anchor, and I am yours.”

Then he and everything around me, my mother, our family, were gone.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” came a broken version of his voice.  One vacant of all that I loved in him.

There was something wet in my eyes as I opened them to the dim light of a torch.  A soft ember glow surrounding the vessel of our leader.  My love.  He was in there somewhere.  And if that dream led me to this nightmare it showed me one thing for certain along the way. The message was all backwards, all wrong.  Well partly. Because, I wasn’t our family’s anchor.

He was.  

Hopefully, I was his.

[littlebitoffanfic]

That Day - Part 2

Fandom: Teenage mutant ninja turtles Characters: Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey. Relationship: leo/reader Request: I was thinking how bout she has been trying to peg a warlord for a long time trying to get enough evidence to get him arrested. Leo and the brothers help her, but there is a lot misadventures between her and Leo and a slow budding romance grows between the two of them. I don't know I can only think of comical fluffy misadventures between the two of them lol. Part 1 - http://littlebitoffanfic.tumblr.com/post/155637804729/that-day “Are you sure they are meeting here?” You asked, tapping your index finger on the map laid out in front of you. Opposite you was Leo and Donnie. “Yeah, they have been gathering here for the last two night.” Donnie nodded before going over to his desk and picking up a phone. He brought it back to the table, pressed the screen a few time and turned it to face you. A video played, showing the mob boss you had been after for months sitting at a table surrounded by men. You bit your lower lip. “Damn it, I don’t have jurisdiction to go in there.” You cursed. You couldn’t go to your work less than an hour before a meeting to get a warrant or find enough men to make it work. “What if we go along tonight and gather information?” Leo asked. He was watching you with his arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah, that’s the only thing we could do. If we intervein, they will ask why I was there. If I don’t have a valid warrant, then he’ll go free again.” You pinched the bridge of your nose as you spoke. You had been working with the turtles for months on this case and every time you got a little closer, the boss was getting away. His street name was Big Daddy and he was an infamous drug lord. You had suspicious he also worked as a pimp and other shady deals. He was known around the area for money laundering in the local businesses who were too afraid of him to say no. Last business man that turned him down suffered a gruesome death. Donnie nodded and started to gather gear from around the lab as you leaned on the table, closing your eyes. Due to the long hours, little sleep and stress, you had been getting bad headaches off and on for a few weeks. You heard Leo walk around to you and felt a hand on your back. “You okay?” He asked as you opened your eyes and looked at him. His eyes were swimming with concern. “Yeah, just headaches.” You smiled, raising your hand and rubbing your right temple as if it would help. “Do you want to lie down?” Leo asked, his hand rubbing your back softly. Soothingly. Leo always seemed so calm and collected. It was why you loved it when he would come along to these things with you. The danger didn’t seem to false him and yet, when it came to you or his brothers getting hurt, he would jump into action. “No, im fine.” You saw the look of doubt on his face. “Really, I am.” You giggled, shaking your head as you fished in your bag and pull out some painkillers. Donnie returned to the table just as you swallowed the tablets. He placed out three recording devices and three cameras. Leo looked to Donnie in confusion. “Mikey broke the fourth.” He answered Leos silent questions. “Its fine. If we take one each, Mikey and Raph can stay guard. Last thing we need is Mikey using flash. AGAIN.” You stressed the word again as the three of your laughed. Not too long ago, when you had first met the turtles, you had been following a suspect home late at night. When he was in an alley, Mikey had taken a picture, forgetting the flash was on. You still didn’t know who he ran fastest from, you or Leo. After collecting the cameras and devices, the three of you heading to the living room where Mikey and Raph were. “Come on, we’re heading out.” He called as he lead the way to the front door. Mikey and raph, who had been slouched on the sofa, groaned and stood up. “Why?” Mikey whined. “We are going after Big Daddy.” You called back as you fixed the camera to your belt. “Hey, what you call Leo on your own time is your own business.” Raph called after you. You and Leo both froze and turned, eyes wide. You could see a tint of red in Leo skin as he stared at Raph with a blistering hate. Bot Raph didn’t notice, he was too busy sobbing with laughter as Mikey collapsed on the floor in giggles. You heard a slight chuckle from behind you so you turned. Donnie was trying so hard to hold back his laughter but one look from you seemed to help him as he stopped. You noticed Leo had turned back and stormed out the lair. You quickly darted after him, running along side him when you caught up. “What, you gonna let a little sexual innuendo get in the way of our fun?” You giggled, nudging his shoulder. He glanced at you, a smirk playing at the side of his lip. “No, but I’ll still get them back.” He mumbled, nudging you back. “And I shall help.” You held your chin up as you hooked your arm in his. -----------------------time skip-------------------- “No.” “Why not, Leo? I have to be under cover.” You threw your hands up as Leo crossed his arms over his chest. You were currently standing in the living area of the lair in a short red skirt, black low cu top and 6 inch stiletto boots. “You cant go out like that!” He gestured to you. “You look like a prostitute!” “That’s the idea. Im under cover. I need to pretend to be a prostitute.” You sighed, shaking your head once again. “And what a lovely prostitute you make, [y/n].” Mikey giggled, watching with Donnie and Raph from the sofas. “Thank you.” You nodded to Mikey. “Well, im off.” You waved good bye. As you walked out the lair, you heard footsteps running up behind you, glancing over your shoulder, you saw Leo running up behind you and slowing to a walking pace as he reached your side. You looked at him, raising and eyebrow as to why he seemed to be helping you. “Gonna make sure your safe.” He mumbled, obviously still upset that you were putting yourself in harms way. He didn’t like it when you had to go undercover on the streets because he knew how dangerous they could be. “Thanks.” You smiled at him, looping your arm in his. “You gonna be my pimp for the night,?” You giggled, seeing the red flash across his cheek before he burst into laughter. ----------------time skip ------------- You practically skipped back to the lair, Leo at your heels. You had managed to not only get a load of information on Big Daddy but you even had a contact number from one of his prostitutes. You were glowing as you entered the living area. “So, how’d it go?” Donnie asked, siting up in his chair slightly. “I got a lead!” You yelled in triumph. You were met with a round of applause as you bowed gracefully while giggle. You had been stuck on the same point for a week so it was nice to get a little bit closer. “And Leo didn’t break the arm of any guy who touched you?” Raph asked as Leo walked in behind you. “No, he was a good pimp.” You chuckled, leaning up and kissing his cheek before stumbling through to the spare room (which was now yours). You didn’t hear the teasing Leo got but he didn’t care. he couldn’t get the feeling of your lips out of his mind that night. ------------------------------------- You sighed in relief as you signed the last bit of paperwork. It was over. You had finally caught Big Daddy. 5 months, 3 weeks and 3 days it had taken you. It sounded a lot but considering he had been on police radar nearly 4 years, you had done well. As you left your office, you knew you weren’t heading straight home. In fact, you barley spent any time at home any more. Your new home was in the sewers, with the turtles. With Leo. You smiled as you walked down the alleys. You didn’t quite know where things were heading with you and Leo. You seemed to be growing closer and closer by the day. As if hearing you were thinking about him, Leo stepped out from the shadows. It was dark out and he would normally meet you here but you still got a fright and jumped slightly. “God, you scared me.” You chuckled, holding your hand over your heart. Leo chuckled and walked over to you, making sure no one was around. “So?” He asked. You couldn’t contain your excitement. “We got him!” You cried out, jumping on the balls of your feet. Leo’s face broke into a broad smile as he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around you, swinging you around with delight. He had been as much part of the case as you had. But as he slowed down and set you back to the ground, you found yourself staring at each other. You were lost in his eyes for a moment. And he seemed to be the same. His arms stayed around you and yours instinctively wrapped around his neck. You heart was beating hard in your chest as you stared at him and realised something. You were falling in love with him. Every day, little by little, you were falling for him. There was a clash from the other side of the alley as you two jumped apart, Leo ready with his weapon to protect you. Only to see a cat had knocked over a plant pot from a windowsill above and it had smashed on the ground. You started to giggle as Leo relaxed, looked at you and smile. You smiled back. Leo put away his weapons before holding out his arm to you. “Shall we head back?” He asked, a soft smile playing on his lips. “Yes, I think we should.” You chuckled, looping your arm around him and the two of you started to head back to the lair.