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familyofpaladins · 11 months

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The Pizza Game (Chp 5)

Chapter 5: Donatello Leaves a Message

Ao3 Link

<<Chapter 1 | <Chapter 4 | X | Chapter 6>

Summary: April, Leo, and Mikey receive a message from the late Donnie. Words: 2231

Being the Leader of a resistance was hard. Of course there was the fighting and patrols, but honestly that was the easiest part. The hardest parts were the strategy meetings, the negotiations of supplies between the different scattered groups of resistance fighters and people just trying to survive, both Human and Yokai.

Having Mutant little brothers be a bridge to the Yokai had helped April O’Neil immensely in dealing with the different groups. They were all charismatic in their own way and people (human and non) would listen to them. She could assign tasks and the brothers would help delegate.

Donnie in particular had been a significant help with the particulars of scheduling meetings and making the most logical use of supplies to which areas. But he was very rarely allowed to actually be in any the meetings. He was far too blunt and easily offended if anyone questioned his Logical and Correct thinking. So he didn’t attend the meetings, but he helped her plan them.

He was gone now. Had been for a little over a year now.

You would think that would make the planning harder. But Donnie, brilliant, ever the planner and overthinker Donnie, had made preparations in the case of his death. He had systems of systems connected to anything and everything that he had built and alerts and backups for each. Some were already in place even before, like the security system and Krangazoid trackers. They already used it to get notifications for intruders and movements of the bigger krang hordes.

But now there were additional alerts. Alerts for maintenance of his machines with detailed instructions of how to fix possible problems. He had made an algorithm for plan making for such things as where to move to if the Krang got too close to the base, or how to shift them away from the more populated areas of the resistance.

All of these new alerts used the same alert/communication system that Donatello had established long ago.

The alerts/communications had a five-level triage system. The naming of which had been hotly debated during its creation. (Even now, depending on who was talking about it, would use different names.)

There was Level 5 (REALLY REALLY (Two Reallys) IMPORTANT): EMERGENCY which would only be for things like “The Krang are breaking into the base GET OUT NOW”.

Level 4 (Really Important): WARNING. Used for things that needed immediate attention, like broken security systems, and enemies approaching the base, or a neighbor base was in trouble.

Level 3 (Important): CAUTION. Things that needed attention soon but could wait until a patrol was over (broken heating systems, upcoming meetings between resistance factions).

Level 2 (Sort of Important): NOTICE. Things that were important but could be dealt with within a couple weeks such as Patrol Schedules, Inventory Notifications, Location Changes, and supply requests.

Level 1 (Not So Important): GENERAL. General messages. This was generally used for post-mission/patrol reports, but could also include personal messages of important dates (birthdays, days without attack). Pretty much anything that could potentially be ignored and not be a problem went into Level 1.

Each level alert could also be amended with locations of where the alert needed to read from and a category. Most common categories were: Kraang, Base[X], Supply [weapons/food/medical], Security, Maintenance, Reports, and Personal.

Yes, there was still the occasional Donnie Code that required 3 code books to figure out, but he had simplified a lot of it down.

Anyone in the resistance could use the alert system to report to each other, but almost all of the automated ones came from Donatello’s systems.

Since Donnie had died, there were also more… personal alerts and notifications. Time and dates were always a little difficult to keep track of when everyday was an abysmal landscape, but Donnie had kept track. So, every once in a while, April got a notification for someone’s birthday or that it had been 13 years since she was promoted to Commander.

The automated alert that April had received just that morning was only level 2, but didn’t have a category attached to it. She could see that alert had also been sent to Leo and Mikey as well.

April frowned. That could mean a lot of things.

It was level 2, so nothing too important or dangerous (hopefully). But it was also to the Commander and two of the top Generals of the Resistance. So that could mean it was something to do with moving krang hordes or possibly something with one of the other resistance bases. But it wasn’t an alert From the other bases, so that means if it IS about the other bases, it’s something that Donnie’s prediction models picked up. That could be either really good or really bad.

Another thing about the alert was that it had a placement of Donnie’s Lab.

Normally (if there was a normal anymore) that meant it had something to do with some project or research of Donnie’s. But it’d been about a year since his death. She thought they had taken care of all those kinds of things.

If it wasn’t any of those things, that left: personal. She looked at the date (when did it get to be November?) and tried to recall if it had any significance. No birthdays. No death dates, because every day was a death date for someone (but she still remembered the ones of those closest to her). She couldn’t recall it being a Victory day either.

She just didn’t know.

April didn’t like not knowing.

“Keep making that face and you’re going to end up with a Raph-chasm”. Years of living in the apocalypse kept her from screaming at the sudden voice, but it also made her fling her bat at it too.

Michelangelo’s years of skills allowed him to catch the weapon while Leonardo had already ducked out of the way.

“HAMATO LEONARDO DON’T YOU DARE SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!”

Leo chuckled as he plucked the floating bat out of the air and handed it back to her, “But we’re Ninjas! Sneaking is part of the gig!”

“Don’t sass me Little Brother, or I WILL hit you with this bat!” she threatened as she took back her familiar weapon. Leo still had a smirk on his face but held up his hands in surrender.

“I’m not going to get a Raph-chasm. You’re the one who’s trying to copy his look”, she pointed at the prosthetic arm with her bat.

Leo huffed a laugh in concession, while she turned to the other turtle, “Mikey! It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever!” They hugged fiercely.

“April! MMmm yeah I guess being leaders of a resistance keeps us all pretty busy.”

It had been about at least a month, she thinks, since she was in the same room with him. Kept busy by recon missions and patrols and battles and meetings and more meetings and uuuggggh. You’d have thought the apocalypse would have put an end to business meetings, and yet here she was.

She hugged him a little tighter, trying to savor the familial moment.

“Hey hey hey now! What am I, chopped liver? Where’s my hug?” Leo complained.

“Right here you big baby,” April rolled her eyes but she held an arm open for the blue turtle. “Speaking of babies, where’s the kid?”

“Me and Casey just got off patrol a bit ago. Kid is exhausted so I told him to go ahead and go to bed.” Leo answered while still wrapping them in a hug and she basked in the warmth of it for a moment

This was nice.

Nice things can’t last too long though. There were things to be done.

April sighed as she released the hug. “As much as I love this, we all have things to do. You guys here for the Alert?”

They both turned serious and Leo nodded his head in confirmation.

“Yeah, we were just going to check on it. You have any idea what it’s about?” Mikey asked as they began to finish the walk to the lab.

“I was hoping you guys would know.”

They were in front of the door now.

“Guess we’re all about to find out together then.” Leo stated, taking a breath and opened the door.

She half expected the room to be dusty. It had been a while since she had been in the lab. But with the regular maintenance checks and Donnie’s own cleaning robots, the place was as clean as ever. She could almost imagine that Donnie was just around the corner, entranced in some new project of his. It pained her heart to know that that would never happen again.

“Okay Dee, what’s the haps?” She said quietly to herself as she pulled up the alert.

A holographic projection of Donnie appeared before the three of them. Her eyes stung at the image of her friend.

“I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today.”

April scoffed, and heard Leo and Mikey do much the same, a smile tugging at her lips. So it was Donnie being dramatic. She didn’t know what it was about yet, but some of the tension left her shoulders.

“If you are seeing this, it means it has been 389 days since I died.” April scowled along with Mikey while Leo raised an eyebrow in a where-is-this-going kind of way.

“And if you’re seeing this and that’s not true,” the hologram Donnie (HoloDon?) continued, “then stop snooping through my files right now!”

HoloDon paused for a moment, supposedly to let snoopers back out of the file.

“Still here? Very well. As you all know I am the most gracious of winners and losers, never been upset ever-“

“HA” Leo scoffed a laugh, and April smiled with him at the blatant lie.

“- But I shall not let even Death stop me from winning.”

Where on Earth was he going with this?

“So, as 390 days is my record, I shall make sure that you do not break said record by reminding you of PIZZA!”

April shook her head rapidly in disbelief.

He… he really left a message, about THAT? She was speechless.

She turned to look at Leo and Mikey, both of their jaws were dropped.

“And in order to keep my record henceforth,” HoloDon continued, “I will remind you at random intervals of anywhere between 20 and 389 days, about pizza, so that I win For. Ever! MUHAHAHAHA” HoloDon cackled.

“I can’t believe this. I can’t- I’m gonna kill him.” Leo finally stated. Mikey turned to look at his brother incredulously but his face was still frozen in its shocked state. “I don’t care that he’s already dead, I’m going to bring him back and kill them again. That ASSHOLE oh my gawd!” Leo continued his hysterical rant.

April wasn’t sure if he was truly pissed or just acting dramatically at being out done by a dead man. Knowing her brother, it was probably both.

Mikey had started shaking so hard, April wasn’t sure if he was crying or laughing. April finally heard him gasp in a breath of air before shouting “Winner is supposed to get the first slice! That jerk can’t even eat it! He just wanted to have the glory all to himself” he threw his hands in the air in dramatic indignation.

At their reactions April finally cracked and started to laugh. It started with a snort, and before she knew it, she was having to sit down on the floor she was laughing so hard.

Despite their grumpiness, the two turtles began to chuckle with her and soon they were all roaring with laughter.

After several minutes of almost calming themselves down, another would snort a laugh again and set them off.

They finally calmed down enough for April to say “I can’t believe he did that! Actually, what am I saying, of course he did that”

“Oh I needed that,” Mikey sighed.

“What, a pizza reminder?” Leo asked with a smirk.

“NO,” Mikey smacked his arm, though there was no strength behind it “I needed a good laugh”

April couldn’t help but agree with him. It had been a long time since she had laughed that hard and that long. She wondered if Donatello knew that was how they’d react to the message.

“Hmmm, do you think that’s why he really did it?” April asked.

Mikey blinked at her, and Leo looked to the ceiling in thought.

“It could be, I wouldn’t put it past him,” Leo finally said after a moment. “But I also think he wanted to win and wasn’t about to let something as trivial as death stop him.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Donald,” Mikey agreed with a chuckle.

“It was nice to hear his voice again. Where he sounds like HIM instead of the all robotic alert voice.” April said quietly after a moment.

“Yeah it is,” Mikey agreed, his eyes shone wetly.

“Even if it was him being a giant jerk,” Leo huffed with a laugh.

“Gotta admit though, I don’t think I’ll mind getting the stupid notification again.” April said.

Both brothers agreed with her.

Over the course of the next 548 days they heard Donnie remind them of pizza two more times.

Then the Krang found their base, and the computers hosting Donatello’s alerts and algorithms were destroyed.

:'3

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wiseoldowl72 · 2 years

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Fate Strikes Twice? The Pizza Shop

I turned the multi-chapter fic into a series. I repost former Chp 1 and 2. This would have been three. I really think I'll like this format better. I have a couple of ideas for their next adventures in their path to getting to know each other.

The Pizza Shop

Saturday morning dawned much earlier than Dean would have liked. It took strong, black coffee and a shower to make Dean even begin to feel like a real human. It was paperwork day. He hated paperwork, but as he was a business owner, it was necessary. Numbers weren’t really his thing. Nevermind he had an MBA. He could run a business, but taxes? No way. That’s what an accountant was for.

“Boss, how long are you in for today?” Charlie, his tech guru, best friend, and found little sister asked. "I wanted to know because I have some new social media ideas and website designs for you to look over."

Dean strolled toward his office and shook his head, “Not that long Charlie. Probably only five hours or so. Time to get inventory done, make sure all the appropriate orders, and payroll are taken care of. That’s it. I have to be out of here by 3:15.”.

While numbers were out of his sphere, he craved having control over inventory and making sure all the restoration cars were getting the best he could afford. Client cars were easy. He was a simple man; he ordered what was needed and then applied the mark-up to make payroll, etc. The best days were when he wasn’t in the office at all but waist deep in a junked car working to bring out its beauty.

“Handmaiden, you rarely leave early, plus you’re in nicer clothes than your usual old shirt and jeans. Do you have plans you aren’t telling me about?” Charlie practically shrieked as she slid across the floor to gaze right up into his eyes.

“What did I tell you about calling me that here at work?” Dean admonished her, blatantly ignoring her reference to the date part of the exclamation.

“That doesn’t answer my question. And fine, whatever,” she said, tapping her toes while looking expectantly.

“Ok, but just the basics, because I don’t know much at this point myself,” Dean acquiesced. “Remember the pie I took to family dinner last night? I’m meeting the owner of the shop this afternoon. He wrote his number on my coffee cup when I was in the bakery earlier this week.”

“Oh a date!” Charlie squeed as she jumped up and hugged Dean’s neck. “I’m so happy for you. It’s been too long since you did something for yourself.”

He wasn’t going to get his hands dirty working with that beautiful ‘67 Mustang as early as he wished, but given his meeting with Cas this afternoon at the pizza shop, he was glad he wasn’t getting dirty today. It wasn’t the easiest thing to get the grease and old stains and smell off.

“I’ll give you a pass," Charlie agreed, "because I know you haven’t met anybody in ages. You’ve made every game night, so I know something’s off, but I want deets tomorrow while we play”

“Gotcha, now I have work to do and so do you.” Dean left her in the foyer of the shop and headed for his office.

~~~~~~

On the other side of town, Cas always rose with the birdsong instead of waiting for the alarm to go off and had a cup of tea before heading to Pies by five. He liked opening in the morning. It allowed him all the smells of fixing the sweet fillings, then smelling the product baking.

“Good morning, Gabe. Here's my plan for the morning.” Castiel brought out his list. He already had his chef’s whites on and was ready to get started. “Apple, cherry, blueberry, mixed berry, for mini and large pies to get started. As usual, I thought I’d leave the accompanying treats and quick breads for you. Alfie and Kevin the cookies and other sweets that don’t take that long to make.”

Gabe took a minute to think about it. “Hmm, banana and strawberry-almond for quick breads, our usual assortment of muffins, a variety of scones based on the berries you are planning to use, plus chocolate because I can’t resist. And then the other two can choose what they want to make when they get here.”

“That sounds fine. I’ll have some of the more popular pies ready by late morning – probably pecan, pumpkin, and a quiche of some flavor. Remember, I have to leave at three o’clock today,” Castiel reminded him, while fidgeting with the note paper in his hands.

“Why’s that Cassie? You are never one to leave the bakery early, especially on a Saturday,” Gabe prodded. “Finally going to loosen up a bit?” He ribbed as he grabbed his chef whites.

“Because I have something I want to do this afternoon, I do ask that we all keep each other informed when we want or need to leave, but I’m not your ten year old brother anymore,” Castiel countered and grabbed the flour. “I believe when I asked you to open Pies with me, it was because we were discussing the opportunities of it being a family business, not so you could lord over me our age difference any more.” Castiel was still irritated.

“Ok, ok, it’s too early to be all uppity. You just don’t ever lead off the morning discussion of goodies with, ‘by the way, I’m leaving early’,’” Gabe tossed out as he turned away to change.

“This is true.” Castiel softened his voice. “I will admit, Gabriel, I am meeting someone at the pizza restaurant at the end of the block later today.”

“You mean I was right!” Gabe slapped his thigh and spun around to face his little brother. “What brought this on?” he asked.

“Earlier in the week when I was working the front counter, a handsome gentleman came in during that torrential rainstorm we were having. He was pleasant, both in voice and appearance, and I wrote my number on his coffee cup.” Castiel waited, not knowing what his brother’s reaction would be.

For once, Gabe didn’t make a joke or try to needle his brother about asking someone out. “I’m happy for you, Bro. Opening this bakery has been your dream and your goal for years. I think it’s great you saw someone and acted on it.” After a pause, he added, “You deserve it.”

This time when Gabe turned around it was for good, and the morning baking began.

Castiel began on his pies. The act of getting his hands into the dough always brought him comfort. As he mixed, chilled, and rolled out the dough, he reminisced about growing up baking beside his mother.

“Remember son, the secret to a good pie crust is cold butter and ice-cold water,” Cas heard his mother’s voice in his head. He remembered her teaching him to make the dough, fillings, and even the decorations that would go on top. He thought about how far he’d come. He had made his first dessert at five years old, proudly presenting the apple pie after supper that evening. Nobody said anything when the crust wasn’t flakey or had too much salt. The filling wasn’t even set. When he mastered making a perfect lattice his mom smiled down on him with such joy in her face. Those days were the best days.

Castiel finished his baking for the day, plus his front counter duties, and retired to the office to change for his date with Dean. He was very thankful he had several sets of extra clothing at the bakery because his chef’s whites were filthy. He set off at 3:20 for the short walk down the block to the pizza place. Uncharacteristically, Gabe never said a word, just wished him well and expected a full report later.

~~~~~

Dean finished up with the inventory and reports about 2:30. Confident that every car in his care would have every part it needed this next week, he closed his computer. Checking his appearance in the full length mirror, Dean thought to himself that this wasn’t a meeting, it was a date. A date. He hadn’t had one of those for long enough that he was nervous. Sure, Cas made the first move by leaving his number on the cup, but it was Dean who followed though.

“Charlie, I’m outta here. Hold down the fort until closing time?” Dean called as he closed his office door.

“Cool beans. Nothing to worry about here,” she replied, giving him the peace sign as he walked by. There were only a few more hours of their normal work day. Most of the mechanics had gone home and if anything, there would be walk-ins or calls for a tow. Charlie had been with Dean since they met in college. He had total trust that his business would be in good hands with her.

Zeppelin blared from the speakers as the Impala pulled out of the parking lot. The lyrics reminded Dean that he hadn’t met anyone new in a very long time. “You can do this… You can do this,” he told himself.

He arrived at the restaurant right at 3:30. He was raised not to be too early, and not to be late. Today he wanted to be there right on time.

~~~~~~

Castiel was already seated in a booth when Dean walked in. There was no mistaking Dean’s tall, bow-legged walk. Nor was Cas likely to forget the green eyes that made such an impression the first time he saw them.

Cas watched as Dean searched the restaurant when he walked in. He could see when Dean saw him. He waved Dean over as discreetly as he could.

“Hello, Dean, I was almost afraid you would cancel meeting me here today.” Cas rose as he shook his hand. “I’ve already ordered drinks for us, I hope you don’t mind.”

Dean returned the hand shake and slid into the booth facing Cas. “No, I don’t mind at all. Thank you,” he said. Dean took a minute to observe that Cas’ hands were large, but soft. It surprised him because he knew how rough being in a kitchen could be on skin. He noticed while his own hands were more slender, they were rough and calloused all over, from knuckles to palm.

‘I was afraid you’d cancel.’ Cas said.

“I almost did,” Dean chuckled, but he made sure there was a hint of mirth in his voice. “I wasn’t sure I could meet someone unless I was satisfied they were a competent baker.”

Rendered speechless, Cas wavered between being angry and dumbfounded. “What do my baking skills have to do with this?” He was finally able to vocalize. “The fact I *own* a bakery should show you that I am capable of producing a highly delectable product. I’ll have you know I worked for years to perfect my pies.”

“Just because you own a bakery doesn’t mean that you can make a mean pie,” Dean responded. He then realized that Cas didn’t hear the lightness in his voice. “I’ve been in plenty of restaurants and bakeries that say they have the best of whatever, but it’s not. And as you can see, you make a mean pie or I wouldn’t be here.” Dean followed up with, hoping to soothe the ruffled feathers he’d made. He hadn’t meant to upset Cas, he was trying to banter, but obviously Cas didn’t get his humor.

“I’ll have you know I went to culinary school for baking and pastry, as did my co-owner and head pastry chef brother,” Cas said, his voice sounding pained.

“Cas, calm down. I meant that as more of a joke,” Dean spoke as he played the silverware in front of him. “I ate the entire blueberry pie when I got home. It was awesome. And the cherry pie was a hit at family dinner last night. I didn’t even get to bring any home.” He made sure he whined a little at the last part. “I really do love pie, Cas.”

“But why does my baking skill have anything to do with you choosing to go out with me?” Cas still didn’t understand Dean’s point in bringing it up. He still wasn’t confident he shouldn’t get up and walk out. He knew he wasn’t “up” on all the modern slang and didn’t “get” jokes like other people did. He was concerned he had made a wrong choice to put his name on that coffee cup.

“Slow your roll there. I bake too. I have since I could stand on a stool next to my mom in the kitchen. Pies are the best thing ever invented. But I love to do breads, international recipes like pasties, and well, basically anything with a crust,” Dean replied. “I also like to cook, use spices, and experiment with different cuisines and recipes. But I’m not a chef.”

Cas had ordered Cokes for both of them. Their drinks were delivered and in that small bit of silence, Cas realized Dean was just trying to start the conversation, not make him upset.

Cas was relieved and pleased that his baked goods were received so well. “Since it appears you are not a professional chef, what do you do?” Cas asked inquisitively as he took a drink.

“I am a mechanic and specialize in car restoration. I have a shop that has both a regular repair side and a total restoration side,” Dean proudly responded as he put a straw in his own Coke. “I've worked there since I was in high school and took over after the owner retired.

“That must be very time-intensive, having a total car care business,” Cas came back, surprised.

“It was much worse balancing the two when I was in college. I started as a mechanic in high school, but I really loved restoring cars,” Dean explained. “I wanted to find a way to do both. You see the shiny, black muscle car right in front of the restaurant? That’s mine.” He preened as he pointed out Baby through the window.

“That’s your car?" asked Cas, awed, rising up a bit out from the bench seat to take a better look.”

“Restored her myself. She’s a ‘67 Chevy Impala I named Baby. I got her in a salvage yard after she’d been in a head-on collision with a semi. She was my first total reconstruction and I’ll never let her go,” Dean excitedly rambled on.

“I also learned baking standing with my mom at our kitchen counter,” Cas happily told Dean about his childhood baking experiences. “Anytime she wanted to make anything, I was right there next to her. I couldn’t learn fast enough.”

Dean half-smiled as he saw Cas’ hands mimic working with dough as he talked.

“Mom taught me to bake and before I went to college I had most pies and sweets down.” Dean nodded to Cas. “Breads, not so much. I still had a lot to learn.” He laughed. “I did learn a few more recipes from her, but most everything after that I had to figure out on my own.”

Cas understood the struggle to master baking breads. “We learned about every kind of pastry and baking technique in my culinary classes. I learned there was so much more to bread to make it come out with the right texture and crust,”

Dean laughed, “When I was away for my undergrad I finally mastered breads, but only after so many batches of killed yeast, bad experiences with rising times, and let’s not even talk about the resulting batches of cooked bread I had to throw out!”

Dean caught one of the wait staff’s eye and had a second round of drinks brought.

“I think the most treasured memory I have is the day of graduation from the Pastry/Baking Certificate program. My mom passed down the family recipe box to me,” Cas said, remembering the feel of the antique box, the faint smells that had soaked into the wood, and running his fingers over the old cards. “It contained recipes that went back at least three generations. I can’t tell you how honored I was to receive a gift that had my great-grandmother’s recipes in it. I use those same recipes today.”

“I hear that. I was so proud to be able to bring Baby home to Uncle Bobby and say ‘I did this’ and he slapped me on the back and told me I did a good job,” Dean said proudly. “My dad’s a cop and my mom stayed home. With a baby brother going to school to be a lawyer, they were happy for me, but it didn’t mean as much because they weren’t as into cars as I was.”

Cas nodded, turning his drink glass in his hands. “After graduation, we took on jobs as line-cook, sous, and assistants to earn enough experience to one day open my own shop. Gabriel, my brother, had been to culinary school too. He had more experience since he has a full degree in culinary arts, but found his love in sweets.”

“So he’s the one who makes everything else in your shop?” Dean asked.

“Yes, he’s better with hand-held pastries than I am. He likes to experiment with flavors,” Cas agreed. “I make all the pies, he makes the sweets, including the cupcakes and quick breads. He made up all the cookie recipes too… Well, those that weren’t already in our family box. We let our other employees make the cookies since they take less time.“

Cas smiled proudly. “The division of labor seems to be working well. Gabe and I work the longest hours in the kitchen, but we take a turn at the counter too.”

“It’s hard to turn over important things. I worked my way up the chain at my uncle’s shop, so I guess I had more time to get used to it. ” Dean said. “I was a plain ol’ mechanic all through high school. Bobby taught me all the basics, and we planned that I would go to school for a four year degree in Automotive Technology.”

“I didn’t know they had that degree.” Cas sounded surprised. “By the way, you refer to your uncle by his first name, that’s not usually accepted. Why do you do it?”

Dean shrugged. “Bobby is really laid back. He doesn’t like titles. He’s just Bobby, he just happens to be my uncle as well. As for the degree, yeah, it’s not all that common, but I was able to find a good program only a few hours from here. It had a focus on restoration too. I jumped at it.”

“Looking at your car I can see why,” Cas nodded toward Baby on the other side of the window.

“The whole plan was that I would eventually take over the shop. Bobby didn’t have any children and my brother and I were close to him. His wife died of cancer early on and he didn’t remarry. He said he enjoyed being an uncle to us,” Dean explained.

“Gabriel and I had a plan too. We used the years working in other restaurants and pastry shops to teach us how to run a business, and save money to open Pies together,” Cas said. “It’s now been open for three years.”

“My Capstone project for my degree was to do a complete restoration from the ground up. Baby was sitting in a graveyard of cars in a salvage yard because she was mangled from the wreck. The school bought her dirt cheap on the condition that if I passed, I could buy her for the salvage yard price and she’d be mine.” Dean took a long sip of his drink.

“That’s really amazing Dean,” Cas said, and meant it.

“The work really began once I got home,” Dean remembered the long hours, greasy shirts and torn jeans. “I worked full time as manager of the repair shop and started the restoration side. We had about 5 other employees at the time. The big thing was Uncle Bobby had a condition for me inheriting the shop. I had to have an MBA.” Dean said. “He didn’t believe I could successfully run it in today’s world without one. While I was doing all my other duties at the shop, I went to school full-time. I can already see the advantage it’s given me in the daily running of the business.”

“Yes, I can see how it would,” Cas nodded. “All the years working in the business watching shops and employees get run into the ground because of bad management made a huge impact on my brother and me. We didn’t want our business to close because we made too many mistakes. We took everything we learned, including getting a professional to help us with the accounting side, to try to start Pies off right.”

“About 5 years ago Bobby finally turned the whole business over to me. I turned a profit on the restoration business in two years. I was always able to convince people to trust me with their prize cars when I showed them Baby.” Dean gestured toward the Impala. “We gained a following by word of mouth, mostly. My best friend Charlie made a bunch of stuff to show off our work.” He pulled up their website on his phone and turned it to show Cas. “That’s all our show pieces so far.”

Cas nodded appreciatively. “That’s wonderful Dean! We are just now showing a profit at Pies. I know it had a lot to do with the business acumen Gabe and I learned while working other jobs. I still share an apartment with him to save money.”

“I was able to buy the business right out from my uncle thanks to the whole operation running smoothly. I live in a bungalow in one of the older areas of town and it’s not far from the shop, which is nice because I spend much of my time there. And that’s the story,” Dean finished, raising his hands, palms out.

~~~~~

“Dean, do you realize it’s been over two hours and we haven’t eaten yet?” Cas said. He hadn’t eaten lunch and his stomach was letting him know.

“Seriously, Dude?” Dean’s eyebrows rose. He too hadn’t eaten more than a sandwich, knowing he was going to a pizza restaurant. His drinks were gone as well.

“We’ve been at a restaurant without eating for longer than I ever have been. Now that’s wrong.” Dean spoke as he rose. “Come on, let’s get something. My stomach is growling.”

Cas rose, and couldn’t quite meet Dean’s eyes. “I knew I was meeting you and, to be honest, was too nervous to eat,” he softly confessed.

Dean heard that revelation and his heart stopped for a moment. Surely Cas wasn’t as tied up in knots as he was?. Thankfully they hadn’t ordered yet. He was sure the wait staff was pretty miffed at that, but it wasn’t crowded, so he didn’t care. Dean had an idea and went with his gut.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean suggested, “Why not just get out of here and I’ll make you dinner?”

Cas looked at him and replied, “No, Dean, you don’t have to do that. We can just order pizza and keep talking.”

“Do you really want pizza for dinner?” Dean asked, playing a hunch

“Not really. If it wouldn’t be a bother, I’d love to have dinner with you,” Cas replied sincerely. “I’ve had a fascinating time with you so far today. I don’t want it to end yet.”

“Then let’s hop in Baby, hit the store, and we’ll go back to my place. You’ve been baking all day, and all I did was business paperwork, so you can put your feet up and we can talk while I cook,” Dean said, seizing the moment. “I’m not ready to say goodbye either, and I want something more substantial than a couple of pieces of pizza.”

“That’s good. Let’s swing by the bakery and see what’s left over. Get a sweet or two for dessert,” Cas supplied helpfully, happy they were extending their date into the evening hours. This was beyond what he was expecting when he walked down to the pizza restaurant earlier that afternoon. Cas ran into the bakery and walked out with an apple and cherry pie. “I thought these would go well with whatever cuisine we have,” Cas held up the boxes.

Dean laughed. “Alright then, let’s see what kind of trouble we can get into.”

What was supposed to be an afternoon “meeting” at a pizza restaurant, had now turned into a full-blown date. Neither of the men knew what to think of that. They rode in silence, Each was lost in their own thoughts about how the rest of the night would go.

#my work #writing #writing community #ao3 fanfic #ao3 #ao3 update #destiel #Supternatural #series #Fate Strikes Twice?

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joshua-flowers · 6 years

Text

Lowest to Highest Route April 2018

Day 1

Woke up at 4am in my cheap hotel room in Ridgecrest. I drove to Death Valley to start dropping off my water/food caches in bright orange Home Depot buckets, I duct tape the shit outta them and throw heavy rocks on top because if one of these caches gets messed with the hike is over. I get to Lone Pine at around 11am and park my car in the Chamber of Commerce parking lot. I'm finishing placing the odds and ends into my pack and realize I am shaking. Holy fuck, I'm actually doing this! it's not just a dream. I open the Uber app no luck, no cars. Same with Lyft. I go into the local outfitters on the corner and get a number for a local shuttle service. I go wait at the McDonalds for Paul to arrive.

I get dropped off at Badwater at about 3pm. I patiently wait in line to get my picture taken in front of the Badwater Basin sign. I start making my way past the tourists ducking selfie sticks and dodging children. I walk past the last set of tourists like a dishonored soldier banished to the wasteland.

I make my way north of the actual L2H route to see the actual lowest point in the western hemisphere. A small pile of rocks in the middle of the salt flat. Fun fact: it's not actually flat. It's actually quite bumpy and in certain areas I'm sinking up to my ankles in mud. Because I got such a late start I'm trying to keep a quick pace. Although I have my umbrella, the sun is beating on my legs and also bouncing off the white salt.

I am questioning my life choices. 2 hours in and I am huddled under my umbrella trying to cool off. I contemplate writing "I should have gone surfing" in the salt just so the park rangers get a chuckle when they recover my body. I feel like I could Butttchug a gallon of Gatorade.

I finally cool off enough to continue my journey. I decided to walk at a more moderate pace and eventually the sun falls behind telescope peak. The terrain gets more bumpy as i continue out of the basin. The mixture of salt and mud make me feel as if I have landed on the planet of Wank and Poo.

After another couple miles I start seeing the first shrubbery and spring flowers. It's a welcome site to see signs of life outside of the basin. I make my way to the road to Hanaupah canyon and night hike for about another hour before collapsing on the side of the road cowboy camping under a rich tapestry of stars.

Day 2

Is this a road? is it a riverbed? Will it twist my ankle? I make my way up the south fork of Hanaupah Canyon. This day sets the precedent that will repeat for the majority of the route. Will there be water there and why is this so fucking hard to walk on? That's the L2H in a nutshell.

Oh shit!! My first rattlesnake! I make a wide berth around the murder worm.

Luckily I come across a creek as I'm down to a liter of water. Hanaupah spring is pumping and I'm grateful I don't have to bushwack to get to the spring. I fill up to my 6L capacity as the park rangers couldn't tell me if Tuber Canyon springs were running or not.

I take a side road up to Shorty's Mine before realizing NOPE.You don't get an easy road walk up to telescope ridge. Time to scramble up the north side of Hanaupah canyon. Climbing up scree with 6 litters of water is totally fun! That is a total lie. It's not fun.

I make my way to the ridge above the canyon and begin making my way up towards telescope ridge. It's getting dark and I find the flattest spot I can on the ridge to crash out among the Pinyon Pines.

Day 3

Scree, scree never changes. 2 steps up slide 1 step down. I'm starting to feel the altitude at this point. I'm sucking air. No one ever makes videos about this part of the route. I wonder if I'm going the wrong way because no one ever complains about this. Well, listen to me, the climb up to telescope is maximum suckage. Finally after many breaks i make it to the ridge. I don't bother with summiting telescope as I had already accomplished that back in February. I make my way down Telescope trail down to tuber canyon, it's nice to walk on a real trail for the first time this trip if only for about a mile and a half. I also get the first glimpse of my destination from the ridge, the snowcapped Sierras.

Descending into tuber canyon things get a bit more green again. The spring is dry when i reach the bottom of the canyon but luckily filled a couple smartwater bottles with snow near telescope peak. I continue down the wash and see murder worm number 2. I don't shit my pants that bad this time, it's old hat at this point.

I come across riparian vegetation and find a 2 inch deep spring it is occupied with bees. I scoop 2 liters of murky water filled with tadpoles and pre filter it through my shirt to remove the muck and floaters.

Oh that wasn't horse shit this whole time! A wild burrow yells at me from across the wash and ascends to a perch above. This is the place where he rules over his pack plotting revenge on the grandchildren of the miners that abandoned their ilk in this god forsaken wasteland.

I make my way out of Tuber Canyon at dusk passing the ruins of an Impala that shows up in every L2H blog. A few more more miles and I collapse next to my water cache #1 chugging half a gallon and sleeping in a ditch for the night.

Day 4

I get to have a burger today. I just have to make it to Panamint springs and a restaurant awaits. I just have to make it down the entirety of Panamint valley to get there. Not much to say. it's the easiest walk of the trip so far, a 4wd road and then cutting over through a smooth flat.

A bit of cross country walking and I eventually make it to a $15 bacon burger, salad, and fries. I pay 3 dollars and am able to take a shower at the campgrounds across the street at the RV park. I almost feel human again.

I fill a couple of liters up and walk the couple miles to Darwin Falls. This is an amazing oasis in the middle of the wasteland. I don't know if I'll ever do the L2h again but I definitely will visit Darwin Falls. It's like someone dropped a G.E.C.K. here. Green trees, waterfalls and fun class 3 scrambles to the top of the canyon. I make my way up a scree field to China garden to see Iconic L2H sight #2, the goldfish. They swim up to my fingers as I fill my water bottles. Some are the size of Coi. I think about keeping one as a pet in a water bottle for the rest of the L2H but I'm not sure they would eat cliff bars.

I make way up Darwin canyon, it's getting dark and i'm looking for a flat place to crash, unfortunately King Burro told his minions to poop in every flat spot in the wash. I find a place and have a rough night sleep with the wind whipping around me. Also I hear rocks crashing in the middle of the night, Burros make terrible ninjas.

Day 5

I make my way out of Darwin canyon. Fighter jets scream overhead. Besides that it's non eventful. I make my way to cache #2. as I'm filling my bottles for a 20 mile water carry a CHP sees me from the road. He shouts out his loud speaker "ARE YOU OKAY?" I try shouting back "IM JUST A HIKER" He returns with "IF YOU ARE OKAY, WAVE YOUR HANDS!" I wave them and he kicks bricks. I think if i was in trouble I would be waving my hands anyways and he just wanted to avoid paper work.

This is a long boring 4wd roadwalk through a Joshua Tree forest. it seems like it's gonna be easy but the L2H decides I should walk into 20MPH winds. I don't really take pics here I just hold hands with Ms. Misery and set up my tent for the first time 3 miles outside of Cerro Gordo ghost town. It's actually nice to put in some bigger miles for the day.

Day 6

UPHILL BAAAYBEEE!! I get to Cerro Gordo where the caretaker Robert is supposed to have 2 gallons of water waiting for me. I wander the scattering of buildings looking for jugs andd yell out a "HELOOOO" Robert emerges from a building and says "Hell son it's 26 degrees out, come in for a coffee and sit by the fire." This small act of kindness makes me wanna cry. I sit there for 2 hours listening to his tales of the shady world of the mining industry. As I leave he tells me to make sure to take the middle road out because the air force has an installation on the high road and I might catch a stinger missile.

I make my way out of Cerro Gordo passing mining ruins. I'm determined to make it to Lone Pine tonight. I WANT PIZZA!! I walk along a 4wd track along the spine of the Inyo mountain range. The salt tram ruins are cool. The fact salt was so valuable at the time that they would build a tram over a mountain is mindblowing.

Descending down long john canyon towards Lone pine is frustrating. It's supposed to be marked by cairns but I think a 6 yr old just came along and stacked rocks randomly, or maybe it was the Burro King. I think this is the part in the thru where my mind starts slipping. I believe that maybe I'm just a simulation. Like Sim City or Roller Coaster Tycoon. There's a game called Thru Hiker Sim and I'm just an avatar getting lost along the route destined to fall in a pool with no ladder. I curse Brett Tucker Player #1.

I make my way out of Long John Canyon after sunset and follow more 4wd roads into Lone Pine. I have been salivating over the thought of pizza for the past 6 hours but Lone Pine is small and closes early. It's 11:30 pm by the time I roll into town. I settle for Pepperoni Hot Pockets from a gas station and check into a motel.

Day 7

I actually sleep in late. It's hard to get out of an actual bed. I feel like if I leave I'll never be comfortable again. I pack up my gear, take another shower and get my Whitney gear out of my trunk. I drive to the visitors center to pick up my Whitney permits. The plan is to take the regular route and bypass the switchbacks with snowshoes as I have read about others doing in an April L2H finish. I return my car to the Chamber of Commerce and begin the walk up to Whitney.

Whitney is imposing in the distance. The mountain gets larger and more formidable with every step. I cant believe I'm so close to the finish. Cars keep stopping asking me if I need a ride to the portal, I say thanks and keep walking soaking in the new alpine environment.

I finally make my way to the portal and run into a couple of guys setting up camp near the store. I ask if they are summiting tomorrow and they tell me the hikers route is completely snowed in and impassable. They say they talked to a couple of people that came down from the regular route and one guy had snapped his snowshoe postholing and in some places the powder was chest high. I'm too close to the finish to turn around now.

I guess I'm doing the goddamn Mountaineers Route.

Day 8

I wake up at 2am and start packing up. I stash my bearcan and snowshoes in a bearbox and start making the trek up the trail. I pass another group making their way up the regular trail in the dark. I take a break at a stream and check Gaia app. The mountaineers route is right in front of me, unmarked.

Bumbling around by the light of my headlamp, the Mountaineers Route isn't actually a trail. It's a lot of scrambling over large rocks and crossing frosty streams whose stepping stones are icy slick in the hours before dawn. I am filled with doubt at this point and am mentally preparing myself for the all too familiar feeling of failure.

The sounds of quick footfalls is approaching behind me. Two guys come rushing up. One of them states, "You're lucky, this was covered in snow 2 weeks ago." they go rushing up the route quickly and with the familiarity of a retiree making his way to the kitchen for a cold brew. These guys know what they are doing.

Fuck HYOH. I'm now hiking their hike.

I do my best to keep up but these guys are moving through the brush and rocks like animals. at points I almost lose them but then catch a glimpse of their headlamps in the distance and head off in that direction. I feel good, I feel my confidence coming back. After climbing 2 other mountain ranges in the past week I'm a little more altitude acquainted and am able to walk 30 feet without sucking air. I finally catch up to my unknowing guides as they are taking a snack break at Lower Boyscout lake. I tell them about the L2H and they tell me that they are just doing Whitney as a quick hike to help train for Denali later in the year. I ask if they mind if I follow them as I don't have a lot of snow experience. Tony and Dane say it's cool as long as I can keep up.

Making our way out of Lower Boyscout Lake the sun is rising and the views are spectacular. I wish I had time to take more photos and video but I'm having trouble keeping up as it is. We pass a beautiful blue icewall near Upper Boysout Lake. The views here are amazing and make the dry desolate desert seem like a faint memory from another life.

We take a break at Iceberg lake. I snack a cliff bar while Tony and Dane consolidate their packs and get their crampons strapped in. I just sit there snacking because all I have is the same micro spikes I've been wearing for the past couple of miles. I look up at the couloir that leads to the notch and then to the summit of Mt Whitney. It's scarier than than the rattler I saw oh so many miles ago. The coulair is a 1500 foot vertical climb in hard packed snow to "The Notch". I can't believe I'm going to attempt this.

Don't look down! don't look down! I keep telling myself this as over and over again I repeat the same ritual up to the notch. Step Step Axe Rest Repeat. For 1500 feet. Dane occasionally shouts down at me "Keep going Josh! You're killing it!" I feel the it I'm killing is myself. I wish I had crampons.

I finally pull myself up to the notch. Tony and Dane are lounging. "You ready to do the traverse?" "Yeah totally ready!" I have no idea what the traverse is.

Dontlookdown dontlookdown. fuck. I looked down. The traverse goes around to the west side of Whitney. One mis step here and you're going on a 2000 foot tumble into Sequoia National Park. The boot pack I'm following is shallow and I'd be shitting my pants if it wasn't for a pucker factor of 11. I wish I had crampons.

Finally making my way around the traverse and begin the walk up to the summit. I feel kind of sick, my vision seems spotty and dim. I am steps away from the end. Everyone is taking pictures at the plaque.

I walk up and slap the monument.No joy. No huge sense of accomplishment.

Just relief.

I take the customary summit photos and have very little time to soak it all in. The cold is making my phone freak out, becoming as responsive as my brain at the moment. The weather is turning for the worse and its time to get off this wild ride. Tony and Dane ask if i can make it down on my own. They have to drive to Mammoth that night and I don't wanna slow them down. I thank them with all the gratitude I can muster. They laugh and say. " I can't believe you did this in running shoes and microspikes! Thanks for letting us be a part of your journey." We head down the mountain and somehow I am able to keep up with them. They give me a ride to Lone Pine and I buy them BBQ and beers because even though I probably would have eventually made it to the top, it was a huge morale booster to tag along with people that knew what the fuck they were doing.

I check into a hotel that night and have the best sleep of my life.

#photographer #Lowest to Highest Route #My Whitney #Badwater #california #Thru hike #Get outside #Death Valley #Camping #Hiking #Hiker trash #joshua flowers #Ultralight

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familyofpaladins · 11 months

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The Pizza Game (Chp 3)

Chapter 3: Better to Have Loved and Lost or To Have Never Loved at All?

Chapter 1 | <Chapter 2 | X | Chapter 4>

Ao3 link

Summary: Little Casey Jr's birthday is coming up and Donnie needs to know what he wants. And an important decision is made. Words: 2918

Donatello walked into the training room, where his blue wearing brother and adoptive nephew were training.

Little Casey Jones was only 4, about to be 5, and had been with them for two years now. His mother (who refused to go by Cassandra, instead going by Big Casey) insisted he begin his “Warrior Training”. Said training mostly consisted of learning how to run and dodge and hide, and some basic self-dense moves. He could learn more complicated self defense once he was a little older.

Donnie was a little surprised to find both of his other brothers in the room as well. They must have gotten back from their supply run early. He could ask them how it went later. The fact that he didn’t get a notification from the security system was a little puzzling. He added Check Security Alert System to his list of tasks. For the moment he had other priorities.

“Casey Jones,” Donnie addressed the young boy.

“Hi Unca Dontello!” Casey chirped from where he was stretching to reach his toes.

“What brings you here, Uncle Dontello?” Leo smirked off to the side at the mispronounced name. Donnie maturely ignored him.

“Casey Jones, your birthday is in two weeks, and I wanted to know if you had any preferences for a present.”

Raph and Mikey both went wide eyed, Mikey whispering “oh CRUD, is that next week already?”

“A present? I get a present for my birfday?” Little Casey asked, brow furrowed as he attempted a sit-up with out his feet coming off the floor. Donnie saw Leo gently place his own foot over Casey’s to help keep him steady.

“Of course you do! Presents have been traditionally given for birthdays, as well as other occasions and holidays for a long time.”

They hadn’t been able to celebrate his birthday the previous year due to dealing with an attack on one of their supply bases a couple of weeks before hand, and then forgot about the day until it had already passed. But Casey was little and had no idea that anything was amiss about it. Donnie was determined that the same thing would not happen again this year.

“WOAH,” Casey wonder filling his eyes.

“Well bud, what would you like for your birthday?” Leo asked again, smiling at the young boy.

“Hmmm,” Casey hummed, hand on his chin in a way that Donnie recognized as something Leo and Raph did often. “I dunno, what do others want for birthdays?” Casey asked after a moment of contemplation, looking to his uncles, stretches forgotten.

“Pretty much anything!” Mikey said excitedly.

“Traditional gifts most often given to young children are: Toys such as action figures or dolls-“ Donnie began to list.

“I got a lot of plushies for my birthdays!” Raph added.

“-or stuffed animals.” Donnie amended. “As well as games, movies, recreational modes of transportation like bicycles or skateboards.” Casey nodded along, although Donnie knew he likely had no idea what he was talking about. There weren’t much of those things in the apocalypse. “Tool sets, power tools, and scientific equipment are also possible gifts,” Donnie finished.

“Pretty sure you were the only kid asking for the stuff Donald,” Mikey huffed a laugh.

“Just because I’m the only one smart enough to ask for them does not make them bad gifts” he defended.

“It can also be other things like a trip to somewhere or just something special you want to do.” Leo added. Donnie could remember when they had been little and Leo had asked to go topside as a birthday present. Papa had vetoed that idea, but the brothers had decided they would give him it as a present anyway, and snuck out. They got lost of course, but it was also when they met April, so Donnie considered that a pretty good present to all of them.

“A trip? Like to Jersey?” Casey asked, head tilted in thought. Donnie and his brothers had equally disgusted faces.

“No. Well, technically yes, that could qualify. But you don’t want to go to Jersey, Trust Me.” Raph said, and the other three turtles nodded in agreement. They did occasionally have to make supply runs there, which was likely where Casey had heard about it, but as true New Yorkers, Jersey was tainted land.

“More like if you wanted to go Visit the Hidden city! Or uh..” Leo trailed off. Donnie understood his struggle. There weren’t a lot of places left to go to that would be fun to visit. Mikey bailed the slider out.

“Your present could also be something like a special treat! I used to ask for my Dad’s Special Ramen! It can be something that you don’t get to eat very often, or to eat a bunch of it, like a pizza or ice cream party!”

“Aww Mikey! You mentioned pizza!” Donnie groaned along with his brothers.

“Oh jeez! I wasn’t even thinking about it!”

“What’s pizza?”

Four heads snapped to the child sitting across from them. “What?”

“What’s pizza? Issit a bad thing?” At the wide eyed stares, Casey looked down at his hands, fiddling with the edge of his shirt and finished with a stutter “I- I mean, you guys say it sometimes, but but you get uh um mad? When you do? So issit a bad thing?”

Donnie shouldn’t be surprised. They hadn’t been able to eat any pizza in something like seven years, while also (trying and failing to) never speaking of it. It made perfect sense that Casey wouldn’t know what it was. It still short circuited something in Donnie’s head.

He was trying to figure out how to explain the concept of cheese to the boy when he realized something.

“No no Casey, its not a bad thing,” Leo knelt in front of the boy. “it’s uh-“

Donnie smacked his hand into Leo’s face.

“FAMILY MEETING RIGHT NOW.” Donnie declared, grabbing Leo’s mask tails with the hand he had just smacked him with, and robotic arms extended from his shell and began pushing the other two out the door.

“W-what? Don?” Leo stuttered as Donnie pulled him along. “Uuuhh, be right back little man! Finish you’re stretches, then do Brown Wall, Grey Wall two times, and then uuh meditate on what you want for your present!” Leo yelled back at him before disappearing out the door.

“Yes Sensei!” Casey saluted as the door shut.

“Okay Don. What’s this all about?” Raph asked once they were in the hall.

“Is it better to have Loved and Lost or to have Never Loved At All?” Donnie asked.

“What.” Leo deadpanned.

“Explain what you mean Don,” Mikey said.

“Casey has never had pizza. Who knows when or if he will get the chance to try it.” Donnie paced as he began to rant. “WE have had pizza, and the loss is so great we don’t even talk about it anymore! So should we tell him about the most wonderful substance in the world and have him be sad he’s never had it, or do we not tell him and let him live in blissful ignorance of what he’s missing out on, but then will also never know about the 6th greatest thing to ever exist?” Donnie finished.

“Oh.” Raph breathed.

“Oooooh.” Mikey said in dawning horror, grabbing his own face.

“Wait, pizza is only the 6th greatest?” Leo asked.

“Really Leo, THAT’S what you’re focused on?” Raph huffed.

“Yes, 6th, beat out by such things as: Newton’s Laws of Physics, Galileo’s discoveries, and My Own Mystic Tech, to name a few” Donnie listed. Also on that list was Donnie’s family. But his Emotionally Unavailable Self certainly wasn’t going to admit that to their faces.

“Uh huh, sure” Leo said.

“You guys done?” Mikey didn’t wait for an answer, “So what are we going to tell Casey?”

“It feels weird not to tell him. I wish we could let him eat some. Hey!” Raph gasped “What if we could try to make a pizza for him as a present!”

“I like the idea Raph, but we don’t have any of the ingredients or even any good substitutes. And that still leaves us with the problem of Casey then mourning the loss of pizza as well.” Mikey patted the biggest brother’s arm as his shoulders slumped.

There was just no optimal solution. Well… the Optimal course of events would be to have never ended up in an apocalypse, to live where pizza was still around and the entire concept of having to Explain What Pizza is, would be ridiculous.

Donnie and his brothers stood in the hall and contemplated what to do. Don’t tell him? Tell him and try to explain the blissfulness of pizza? (Could he even remember it well enough to describe the taste?)

“Okay okay, How about this?” Donnie turned to Leo whose face was tight in thought as he spoke. “Once we defeat those overcooked beetroots, and we, ya know, fix this whole situation,” he twirled a hand through the air. “Get Life back into the world, and get all the ingredients we need, we’ll throw Casey the Biggest Pizza Party ever, huh?”

“Not bad,” Donnie hummed while Raph and Mikey’s faces brightened at the idea. “However that will mean that we can’t talk about pizza anymore.”

“Well, I mean we’ve already been doing that with The Pizza Game” Leo smirked.

“Scoff. And how WELL have we accomplished that task? Have any of us gone more than 6 months without thinking of pizza?” three sets of eyes refused to look at Donnie. “Uh huh, that’s what I thought. To further prove my point, Casey just told us that he’s heard the word pizza multiple times. If we want to truly keep him ignorant of its existence, we can’t keep talking about it or he will just ask someone else.”

Donnie looked at his brothers and saw their serious and determined faces.

“We can do it,” Raph stated, straightening to his full height with conviction, “We can keep the pizza mentions to the minimum and not talk about it in front of little Casey. I believe in us!”

Raph stuck his hand in the middle of their little huddle. Donnie and his other two brothers added their hands.

“Mad dogz!” Raph cheered.

“MAD DOGZ!” They echoed back.

That left just one more problem.

“Great plan Fam,” Donnie said, “but we still don’t know what we’re going to say to answer Casey’s question of “what is pizza?””

“Ah crap.” Leo sighed.

“Language”. Raph rumbled reflexively.

“Hermano, I am 27-“

“28” Donnie corrected.

“-28 (whatever, time is fake), years old” Leo continued, “I think I’m allowed to say the word Crap.” Leo tried to throw an arm around his Big Brother’s shoulders, but the height difference made it look more like Leo was draping himself against Raph’s side. Donnie tried not to snicker at the sight.

“Not in front of the kid though!” Raph whisper shouted and gestured at the door to the training room where Casey was likely done with his stretches. The movement knocked Leo from his leaning position.

“Relaaaax, he can’t hear us!” Leo drawled as he kept himself from falling over.

“Speaking of Casey” said Donnie loudly. His dumdum brothers still can’t focus on a subject for very long. Internal sigh. He continued, “We are getting off track. WHAT are we going to tell Casey?”

“I don’t know, can’t we just tell him that it’s something that’s not around anymore, and to not worry about it? It’s not even a lie” Mikey suggested.

“You think he’d accept that as an answer?” Raph asked.

“Raph he’s barely 5. He’ll believe anything we tell him.” Leo said. Donie had to admit, young children were easy to deceive, especially when they were his primary source of education.

“We’ll have to let Big Casey and April know the plan.” Donnie said while he looked at the base schedule on his wrist gauntlet to see where they were at and/or would be at the base soon.

“Do you think Big Casey will be okay with us making this decision?” Mikey asked.

“Eh if she disapproves, she can always go ahead and tell him. But I doubt she will, since she comes to us for advice half the time anyway.” Leo shrugged.

You know it’s the end of the world when you go to bachelor turtles for parenting advice, Donnie thought to himself.

“I have patrol with her for the next week, so I can double check it with her then,” Raph supplied.

“Great! Let’s get back in there before he starts trying to climb the walls.”

They walked back into the training room, where Casey quickly got back into a meditating pose from where he had obviously been looking at the various practice weapons and training gear (in view but out of reach of the 5 year old). They all nicely pretended not to notice.

“Okay Casey Jones, we’re back”

Little Casey excitedly opened his eyes and bounced to his feet.

“I know what I want for a present, Sensei!”

“Oh yeah? Decided already?” Leo asked, ruffling his hair.

“Mmhm!!” Casey nodded his head so quickly Donnie was worried he’d get whiplash. “I wanna stick like Mom’s!” Little Casey pointed to where Big Casey’s spare Hockey stick was hanging on the wall.

Not a bad choice. Donnie could work with this.

“A hockey stick, not bad, young Casey Jones. Any special requests for amenities? Hidden sword? Lasers? Blow Dart Gun? Retractable Chainsaw?”

“Don,” Leo said through gritted teeth, smile plastered on his face for Casey’s sake. “You will not give a five year old a chainsaw.”

“I would Never!” Donnie lied. Leo’s eye twitched.

Casey giggled at his uncles.

“Okay!” Leo said with false cheer. “Me and Casey still have some exercises to go through, so visiting time is over. You all can see him later!” He said as he began to push his brothers out of the room.

“What?! Us too?” Raph and Mikey complained. Donnie knew either of his brothers could have held their ground, yet they let themselves be pushed out. Dum dums. Donnie allowed himself to be pushed out because he had the information he needed and a list of duties to get to.

“Yes you too! I know you guys still need to finish the inventory reports on the supply run you just got back from” Ah so that was why they let themselves be pushed out. Although, not without complaint.

“Booo” Mikey complained and stuck his tongue out at Leo. Casey broke into a fit of giggles.

“Okay see you guys later!” Leo chirped before he leaned in and poked at Donnie’s chest, “No chainsaws or lasers!”

“Bye Unca Raphyell! Bye Unca Mikyjello! Bye Unca Dontello!” Casey called from behind Leo.

“See ya later, Casey!” Mikey called back.

“Goodbye Young Casey Jones” Donnie responded while already beginning plans for the gift.

“Bye Little Man! We’ll visit you later when you’re done training!” Raph waved.

“Bye!” Leo sang as he shut the door on them.

“He just wants ta hog Casey all to himself!” Raph muttered as they began to walk down the hall.

“Hey Don, you gonna get him the hockey stick?”

“Affirmative.” He was already creating blue prints. Can’t have the stick be too tall or heavy for him to handle, but should be big enough for him to use for a couple years before getting a new one to match his new height.

“You’re not actually gonna give him a chainsaw attachment, are you?” Raph squinted at him.

“Of course not.” Donnie said. “That will be the gift for his 8th birthday.”

“Donnie!”

“Man, I don’t know what to get him!” Mikey complained, floating up to drape himself over Raph’s shell.

“I already got him a gift,” Raph said proudly. Donnie shouldn’t have been surprised. Raph being the Big Brother and softy that he was made him prepare for birthdays and other such things.

“Whatchya get him?” Mikey asked, leaning over his brother’s head to look at him upside down.

“That’s a surprise” Raph smirked.

“Aww come on Raphie! I need ideas!”

“I want to surprise him and, no offense, but both of you can’t keep a secret and are terrible liars.”

“I take much offense to that!” Mikey gasped.

“OFFENDED GASP… But it is true.” Donnie admitted.

“HEY. Maybe I can find him some new bedtime stories.”

“Why bedtime stories?”

“Because have you HEARD the stories Big Casey tells him?! Just last week she was telling him about how the krang came through the portal! As a BED TIME STORY! Who does that?!”

“That… does not surprise me.”

“Okay Raph you know what we’re getting him, now tell us what you’re present is!” Mikey asked once again leaning into his face.

“Not tellin’. You’ll just have to wait two weeks to find out what Raph got him.” Raph said with a smug grin.

One week later Donatello was forced by Raphael to make two promises: 1) to give Casey his gift for him and 2) To make sure that Casey got the Pizza Party after the war was over.

It was the last thing Donatello heard from his big brother before the Krang dropped a building on Raphael and Cassandra Jones.

A week later Donatello hugged a sobbing Casey Jones as he fulfilled the first promise.

Sitting next to a hockey mask was a patchwork stuffed animal shaped like a turtle. It was each color of the rainbow, but was mostly red.

This is where the angst begins. Hold onto your seats. It does have a happy (bittersweet?) ending.

(if it makes you feel any better, in another timeline April Drops a building on the Sister Krang as poetic justice)

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familyofpaladins · 11 months

Text

The Pizza Game (Chp 4)

Chapter 4: Mikey Orders a Pizza

Chapter 1 | <Chapter 3 | X | Chapter 5>

Ao3 link

Summary:

Mikey opens a time gateway. (But not the gateway you're thinking of) words: 3423

Notes:

Bit of a time skip from the last chapter! We are still in Angstville. :3 I rewrote sections of this chapter like 3 times, so I hope the final result is okay

Michelangelo sat in the Middle of his room, books and scrolls surrounding him.

I can do this. I can do this. He repeated to himself as he took a steadying breath. (He ignored his trembling hands).

For all the years and scrolls and books he had searched for and researched, creating a Time Gateway wasn’t actually that complicated.

But years it had taken.

---

Mikey had demanded that Draxum help him find the time scepter or relics. Draxum had refused, but only because he knew that the items Michelangelo wanted no longer existed, if they ever did in the first place.

Then Mikey begged Draxum to help him look for it anyway or for any way to get his brother back. It was in the wake of Raphael’s death, and his determination was the most alive Mikey had looked in months. He needed to find some possible way to fix things. That was when Draxum caved and agreed to help him find a way to create a Time Gateway.

Draxum only knew about the theory of them in general, he could not perform the ritual himself. But he knew they were risky and usually required multiple masters to have enough power to perform one.

Mikey didn’t let any of that deter him.

Mikey was then told of where they could possibly obtain the knowledge necessary to learn how to make a time gateway. Draxum and Mikey told everyone that they were going to complete Michelangelo’s mystic training to become a master. That was true, it was one of the reasons that Draxum agreed to the search, that in doing so they would also finish his mystic training at the remaining strongholds of Mystic Teachings.

And then they had left. Over the next two years Michelangelo and Draxum found the texts to learn how to make a time gateway together, though Draxum was still wary of it, claiming the process to be very risky, both for the casters, and for time itself.

However, on the journey they found something else.

They had found that the empyrean had actually been created by the Krang’s arrival centuries ago. They found a way to mystically reverse engineer it to push back the Krang.

They had made headway over the next couple of years in the fight against the krang and gained land and resources. With the war finally turning in their favor, Mikey had other things to focus on and his plans for the time gateway were pushed to the side, even though his grief had dulled but never disappeared.

And then the krang found a way to negate the mystic attacks. The war had stalled for another 2 years, and they lost Baron Draxum during that time.

Then the krang found a way to turn the mystic attack against them, and they scrambled to hold their ground.

And then Michelangelo lost another brother, and gained a new reason to try for a time gateway.

---

According to everything he read on the matter, the only things needed to create a Gateway was: Focus and Conviction set on a clear point in time of when you wanted the gateway to open to, and an immense amount of energy to tunnel through the stream of time.

(That last part was what Barry had been worried about the most. It’ll be fine, don’t think about it.)

And okay. It was a little more complicated than just thinking about When you wanted the gateway to open. There was a lot that had to deal with sensing the flow of time, and following it back (or forward but that was more complicated) and staying connected within your own timeline and not fracturing it and possibly destroying your own time line in the process before even getting there.

Draxum had worried over that too, saying the gateway wasn’t worth the risk. But he wasn’t here to stop him, Mikey thought bitterly. Neither was his most overprotective brother. Nor the brother who had the most to say about the possibilities of time travel.

That was why Mikey had to practice now, get used to the flow of linear time, and how to reach back in it. Reach back, open a gate, and pull something (some One) Back.

He couldn’t worry about the possibility of only being able to do it once. He had to be able to do it twice. So this first attempt was just practicing. If he messed it up, he didn’t want to get stuck in a time loop of his brother dying. (Don’t think about it, don’t think about it. Focus.)

He had to focus on something else. Some other time. Some other time with something he could put enough conviction in to focus on…

Well. They certainly had joked about it enough.

Mikey was going to order a pizza.

He raised his hands. Moved them in the specific pattern the scrolls said to. Felt the flow of time around him, focused on When he was wanting to go, and Reached.

It was a weird feeling. Cold rushed past him, but there was a warm chord of time he was following that connected to when he wanted to go. Trying to expand the cord into a tunnel felt like standing at the bottom of a waterfall and trying to swim upwards.

He pulled a little more from the well of mystic energy he had inside to push forward (backward? FOCUS).

He could do this. He had to do this.

He needed his brothers back.

He had to be able to do this. Just a little more.

A little more.

Come on, come on!

He could feel the push and pull of the time stream.

“Mikey?”

He just had to keep pushing, put just a little more energy into it-

“Mikey?!”

Focus. He had to focus. This couldn’t work if he was distracted.

“What are you doing?! Mikey stop!” The pleas of his (last remaining) brother were ignored. He had to FOCUS-

“Michelangelo! STOP!” The cold (hot? It felt like they were burning) hands that shook his shoulders sent him out of the timestream, faster than he had entered it. He gasped like he’d actually been holding his breath. In the dying light of the orange gateway, that had been about the size of a quarter (that was all the bigger it had gotten?) he saw Leonardo’s concerned and slightly panicked face.

Michelangelo glared at him.

“Why did you do that?! Why did you stop me?! I was So Close!” he growled. (It was a lie)

“So close to what? Mikey, what were you even doing?! Do you see what it did to you?”

“I was-“ He cut himself off. How could he explain this? “I’m fine!”

“Michelangelo. No you’re not.” Leo gently took Mikey’s hands, and he looked down at them.

There were cracks that covered his hands and spread up to his elbows. They were bleeding ever so slightly. Well, Shit. That hadn’t ever happened before. He hadn’t noticed it at all before, but now he could feel the pain seeping into his limbs.

“Oh…. Ow.”

“Yeah ‘ow’” Leo sighed. “Sit on the bed, big man.” Leo said as he guided Mikey into sitting.

Mikey stared at his hands. Was this what Draxum had been so worried about? Pulling from the source of his mystic energy, his ninpo, and using too much it was actually pulling him apart too?

“Let me see your hands” Leo said, kneeling in front of him, holding bandages and other medical supplies. When had he stepped away to grab them? Mikey rested his hands on his brother’s metal one (Mikey had been on his journey when Leo lost the real one. He tried not to feel guilty about not being there). The movement stretched the cracks and he winced.

He couldn’t help but think how 20 years ago he might have asked for some pain relief, but it was a rare commodity now, only used in extreme cases, and this was far from the worst pain he’d ever muscled through.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Leo wiped the blood away, and applied a very thin amount of antiseptic to the cracks.

“So you gonna tell me what you were doing, that caused this?” Leo asked conversationally as he began to wrap his hands. Leo was looking at the wrappings, but Mikey still avoided his brother’s face and looked around the room. It looked like a whirlwind had swept through and threw all his books and belongings every which way. He remembered the feeling of cold sweeping past him and wondered if maybe a whirlwind HAD swept through.

His brother was still looking at the bandages he was wrapping around his arms, giving him space, but Mikey knew he was still waiting on an answer. Where to start?

“I was…” Mikey chuckled wetly, “I was trying to order a pizza.” His voiced cracked on the last word.

Leo turned his head at that, eyebrow raised in confusion, but the corner of his mouth was twitching at the remark. “You were… ordering a pizza?”

“In a way…” Mikey chuckled before sighing.

Leonardo was done with the bandages and sat on the bed, shoulder to shoulder with his brother. Mikey leaned into him. 35(34?) years old, and he still leaned on his older brother.

“Do you remember that one time we were talking about pizza?”

“Gonna have to be more specific there, Miguel.” Mikey butted his head against the shoulder he was leaning on.

“When we were talking about summoning pizzas?”

“Haha, yeah I remember that! And old Barry said you’d need a dimension filled with pizza for it to work? Don’t tell me you found a pizza dimension” Leo chuckled.

“No, no pizza dimension, sorry,” Mikey hummed.

“Darn.”

Mikey fiddled with the edge of his bandages before he spoke again.

“And do you remember how Donnie said it was too bad we couldn’t just travel back in time to get one?” He felt his brother stiffen. “And then Draxum said that time travel was possible but you needed a time scepter or a gateway, but that pizza wasn’t worth the risk of messing it up?”

Mikey could feel Leo looking at him. Mikey couldn’t look back at him, kept going, knowing if he stopped, he wouldn’t be able to start again.

“And, and do you remember how me and Barry were gone for two years to complete my mystic training, after-“ deep breath”-after Raph died?”

“Yeah?” Mikey could hear the confusion and concern in his voice.

“I- I asked Draxum to help me find a time scepter or whatever, but he said they didn’t exist, but I kept asking about anyway to go back. And then he agreed to teach me how to make a time gateway.”

“Mikey.”

‘I- I just wanted to get Raph back!” Mikey plowed on, “You and Donnie were so angry and upset! Without Raph you were both throwing yourselves into fights and I was afraid I’d lose you too! And and I wanted him back too! So I made Barry teach me! On that trip I found all the books I needed, but it still took time to learn, and then we found out about the empyrean and we started winning and I- I stopped working on the gateway, trying to finish the fight with the Krang! And I forgot about it! And then- and now- now Donnie is dead too-” Mikey was sobbing by the end, voice cracking so bad the words barely made it out.

“Oh Mikey” Leo breathed, eyes wet, turned and wrapped him in tight hug, letting Mikey sob into his chest.

It’d been only two weeks since Donatello’s death.

“I want our brothers back, Leo. How are we supposed to do this without them?”

“I don’t know Mikey. I don’t know” And Oh. Oh shit. Leo was crying now too.

Mikey knew that Leo took Raph’s death very hard. They all did, of course, but Leo especially. They’d been co leading missions and supply runs and just watching each other’s backs. When one couldn’t handle the load, the other took it up. But then Raph was gone and Mikey himself had gone on a Mystic Journey for almost two years leaving them alone. So Leo and Donnie had relied on each other even more than before. And now Donnie was gone too. Mikey should have been more surprised by how well Leo had been holding himself together.

Mikey now realized why his brother had looked so panicked when he stopped him from opening the gateway. He didn’t want to lose his last brother.

“Shit, I’m sorry Leo” he cried and hugged his brother harder.

“Shhh Mikey” Leo whispered and rubbed soothing circles on his shell. He didn’t say it was okay, because nothing was okay.

They sat in silence for a while longer. Part of him was ashamed for crying so much when they were already surrounded by so much death and destruction. The other part of him (Dr. Feelings? Hadn’t heard from Him in a while) said that this was needed, that keeping everything locked up would just cause problems later.

They held each other and shared their grief for a few more minutes. Then they finally untangled themselves, and went back to leaning shoulder to shoulder.

“So this,” Leo pointed to his damaged arms, “was caused from you trying to open a time gateway?”

“Yeah,” Mikey sniffled.

“Guess this is why Draxum said you needed a team of sorcerers huh.”

“Yeah, trying to push the gateway through time was pretty tough. Guess it was a good thing you stopped me, I hadn’t even noticed the cracks.” Mikey rubbed at his arms, the more they sat there the heavier and more sore they felt.

“Even though you said you were close?” Leo asked, concern once again on his face.

“I wasn’t. Not really,” Mikey admitted. “I’d say I only got about… 60%? of the way there? But I was…. Also trying to go farther back than I really needed to.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wasn’t kidding, earlier, when I said I was trying to get a pizza.”

Leo raised a brow in question.

“I was practicing. Seeing if I could even do it at all. Figure out how it feels to navigate the time stream. We joked about it so much,” Mikey chuckled wetly, “I thought I’d practice by pulling a pizza from the past.”

“Oh my god. You really did try to order a pizza via time travel” Leo said face palming, but Mikey saw a hint of smile, so he’d call it a win. “Wait, you were just going to pull the pizza through, not you go through the gateway itself?”

“Yeah that was the plan, though I’m not sure if it would have worked like that. That’s why I was testing it. I thought… I thought if I could just- just go back in time to right before they died, that maybe I could bring them here. Nothing else would be changed, we’d just get them back in the here and now.”

“Mikey, I’m not sure that would have worked anyway.”

“And why not?” Mikey demanded. He had worked too hard, to be told it was a fruitless endeavor (even if he already knew it).

“Because they did die,” Mikey refused to look at the purple and red bandanas tied around the sword handle that proved it. “And if you would manage to bring them here… It means you’d have pulled them from some other Time line, breaking it into branching timelines.”

“You sound like Donnie,” Mikey grumbled. Leo just smiled sadly.

“And if you did do that,” Leo continued, “you would have just made another timeline where we still lose a brother. And I don’t think either of them would want that.”

Oh.

Mikey hadn’t thought about it like that.

He still didn’t like it.

“I suppose you’re going to order me to not attempt it again?” Mikey asked, expecting a resounding “you bet your shell!”

But he was met with silence.

“Leo?”

“Well, I can’t really order you to do anything. But… I… don’t think you should try again, for pizza or our brothers,” Mikey pretended not to notice the tremor in his voice on that last word. “It seems too much of a risk for you to lose yourself in trying, and my Ninpo isn’t strong enough to help either.”

Leo paused and stared at his hands.

“Master Splinter used to say something about not wallowing in bad things of the past, that we just have to make do with what we have now. That all our experiences, good and bad, help to shape who we are.”

Mikey could remember his dad saying something like that. He thinks it had originally been said about his own fate of being forced to fight in the Battle Nexus and then captured by Draxum and mutated into a rat. And that while those events were awful for him, he wouldn’t change it for the world, because it had also given him his sons.

“So you’re saying that if we go and start trying to fix all the bad things in the past, we might miss out on the good things that also come from them?”

“Now you’re getting it,” Leo smiled at him.

“Like the finding out about the empyrean when I left after…?”

“Yeah. It helped us push back the Krang, and regain some area and resources.”

“But it didn’t last for very long…” Mikey said dejectedly.

“No, I guess it didn’t, but maybe it gave us enough time and space to find another way to finish them off for good. We still have hope that we can turn things around. As long as there’s hope that we can fix things here in the present, we shouldn’t use time travel. That… time travel will be the last possible course of action, Okay?”

“Okay, as long as you promise me you won’t die too,” Mikey knew that Leo couldn’t really promise that. But he needed his brother. Needed to know he wouldn’t throw himself into danger recklessly in vengeance or self-sacrificially.

“I promise to do my best to stay alive, as long as you do too.” That was really the best he could ask for in the situation.

“Ha, I can do that.” Mikey huffed a laugh. He continued, “So ordering pizza via time travel is a last resort, huh?”

Leo laughed the first real good laugh Mikey had heard in a long time, “Is that what-“

“What you said 15 years ago when we first had the conversation about time travel? Yep!” Mikey popped the p.

“Oh real funny old man!” Leo laughed, and locked an arm around his younger brother and gave him a good noogie.

“Old Man! Have you seen the wrinkles you’ve got!” Mikey said, affronted, while he failed to wiggle out of the hold.

“Not as many as you! And all that grey hair!”

“Excuse you! This is not hair, NOR grey! And it makes me looked distinguished, thank you very much!” Mikey said with a flip of said hair. (It was actually algae that had grown while on his mystic journey with Draxum. He had been going to get rid of it, but the rolling laughter it gave Donnie at seeing the look of jealousy on Leo’s face, that Mikey got to have Hair when he didn’t… well, Mikey decided to keep it).

“It makes you look like an old man!” Leo laughed.

“You’re just jealous.” Mikey sang.

“I am not! I-“ Leo was interrupted by his communicator beeping.

“Sensei?” The high pitched voice of a 12 year old Casey asked, “Have you found Master Michelangelo yet?”

“OH RIGHT! Yeah Casey, I got him, be there in a minute!”

“Understood, Sensei!” The call ended. Mikey raised an eyebrow.

“What was that about? And Yeesh, that kid needs to relax. He knows he doesn’t have to call you that all the time right?”

“I’ve TRIED to tell him that! But the kid just won’t have it,” Leo sighed, throwing his hands up in the air, but he had a fond smile on his face. “And he made something he wants to show us, and I was supposed to come get you. We better get going.”

As Mikey followed his brother out of the room, he thought to himself, that as long as he had people he cared about, like his brother and Casey and April, around, that everything would be okay. He would keep looking forward.

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