Curate, connect, and discover
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(This is a bit of a long one, but I think it’s worth it. Also, I go to make April say “bitch” so that’s fun. Warning: Feels Ahead!)
The Boys were acting weird. Which was quite a feat considering that they were mutant turtles, trained in the art of Ninja-ing. April wasn't even counting the fact that they were teenagers. In April's experience, all teens were weird. So yeah, the boys were acting stranger than normal.
It started when she went to meet them on the roof of her current job. Raph arrived first and gave his lovely snaggle tooth grin.
"Hey, big guy!" She calls out, waving him over to sit next to her by the small wall that went around the edge of the roof. "The others on their way?"
"They stopped by Run of The Mill to get us some pizza." He said, sitting down and crossing his legs.
"Cool." She responded and opened her phone, expecting Raph to do the same.
But when she looked up a few seconds later he was staring at his lap, the place where his eyebrows should have been furrowed in concentration. He was thinking very hard about something, and when Raph was thinking hard about anything it was normally meant bad news.
"You good over there, Boss Man?" April asked. The mutant jumped a little and snapped his head towards her, a big smile twisting his face.
"Yep! I'm good! Why wouldn't I be good? I'm the best at being good!" Raph said, words rushing out like water out of a firehose.
...Yeah, something was definitely wrong. April put her phone down and turned to face him.
"Come on, bud. What's going on?" she asked and tried to look him in the eyes, even as the snapper nervously turned his head away from her. "You always say that you're here for all of us, no matter what. And you know that we would do anything for you."
Raph softened at the girl's words. He shifted and squirmed, and though it was hard to tell with his green skin, April thought she saw him blushing. She waited and didn't look away, trying to project a calm and loving aura. The turtle finally sighed and faced her.
"I'm Ok, April. Raph promises." His smile was softer now, more real and relaxed, and April knew that that was the best she was going to get. She patted his arm, scales smooth on her hand.
"Alright, but just know that we're here if you need help. Or if you just need to talk." She leaned back against the wall and picked up her phone again. It's best not to push her friend unless he really needs it.
"What's your favorite color?"
The question was sudden and so different than what they had just been talking about it took a few seconds for April's brain to process it.
"...It's yellow, why-" She was cut off by a loud whoop and the sound of skateboard wheels, and when she looked over Leo was jumping over from the neighboring roof with a pizza box in his arms. The skateboard flipped under him and rolled across the roof as he landed next to them. Mikey and Donnie shortly appeared next to him,
"It's Pizza Time!" Leo yelled and that was just enough of a distraction that by the time they were all settled, April had forgotten the strange question.
-
The second time was with Leo.
They were having a makeover day, with different types of eyeshadows, blush, and nail polish spread all over the living room table. It was hard doing make-up on someone who was green, but Leo looked great if April did say so herself. They were munching on candy and watching some stupid internet challenge video, while waiting for their nails to dry when Leo asked the question.
"So what do you use for your pigtails?" She blinked and turned to him.
"What do you mean?" Leo had his look that he always used when he wanted to look natural but was really after something.
"Just, you know, you always complain about how hard your hair is to style. But it always looks fabuloso, So, you know, I just wanted some tips." Leo flashed his sparkling teeth at her like it would distract her from how weird his question was.
"You don't even have hair. What do you need tips for?"
"Casey said that Mikey had hair in the future. I'm hoping it will grow in." April narrowed her eyes at Leo, who was examining his nails with a clearly fake casualness.
Well... it wasn't like it was personal or anything.
"I can't wear hair ties because my hair is too thick, they always snap and they're a pain to use. I normally just use some ribbons to tie them up." Leo smirked
"Wow. You're sweet, strong, pretty and with a bow on top!" April shoved him away.
"Oh, come on that was a "ribbon" good one." Uuuhhhh, why her?!
"Ow! Alright, alright I'll stop "ribbon" on you. OW! Ok, I'll stop! Wait hold on-WAIT! APRIL, I'M SORRY! UNCLE! UNCLE!"
-
Next time was with Donnie.
April knew the soft shell had problems with boundaries, they've had to have several interventions to explain to Donnie that "It doesn't matter if you think you know better, you can't mess with our stuff without asking." Or "I know that you wanna keep us safe, but you can't tag track us without telling us." But it was normally alright. Donnie just needs some help understanding some things, and he usually said he was sorry, even if he still insisted that he was in the right. But April had thought that Donnie at least understood the basics of social etiquette, like not digging through a girl's closet without asking!
But when she entered her bedroom after a long day of work, there he was: sifting through her shirts with his back facing her, and with a pile on the bed that was not there when she left.
April closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, held it, and slowly let it out and relaxed her shoulders. She gently set down her backpack and opened her eyes.
Then she took a flying leap and tackled Donnie to the ground.
"OW! APRIL?! You're home early. How was- OW!" April wrestled the turtle into a chokehold, holding him down as he struggled, and she hit his chest with all the rage she could muster.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU ASSHOLE?!"
"Wait! April, Stop! I can explain-"
"EXPLAINE?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"Currently, I'm being beaten by a small, angry, teen-"
"YOU DON'T JUST GO TROUGH A PERSON'S CLOSET! THAT OFF LIMITS!"
"It wasn't like I was looking for your underwear! I was just looking at your shirts!"
April stopped and glared down at Donnie squirming in her arms.
"You got one chance to say something that will fix this, or I will be giving Leo an airhorn, and telling Mikey that you need more therapy." Donnie stilled.
"You wouldn't."
"You wanna test that?" April said, gritting her teeth. "Try me, Bitch."
Donnie sighed in defeat.
"I just wanted to get a sense for your style."
What the heck? April let go of Donnie and crossed her arms.
"Why?"
"Style is an important part of expressing yourself, it reflects how you want others to see you, as well as what other factors like personality, overall mood, values-" They were getting too far off topic.
"Yeah, I get all that. But why do you wanna know all that?"
"...To be a better friend..." Donnie said with a fixed and stiff smile. April didn't stop glaring. Donnie drew back a little but stopped. The smile dropped and was replaced by a regretful look. "I'm sorry, April. I get that I was wrong and shouldn't have done that. I swear that I wasn't doing it to invade your privacy and I do have a reason. I just... can't tell you right now. But I promise I will! And I also promise that I will never do this again."
April sighed and uncrossed her arms. She was still angry, but she had an apology and Donnie did promise.
"Fine. But this is the only warning you'll get, and you owe me big time."
Donnie smiled, a real one this time. It was soft and grateful, and felt so sincere that it threw her for a loop when she saw it. It didn't feel like it matched the situation at all.
"Of course. Anything you want."
-
The third time was with Mikey.
She had woken up in the middle of the night to find him hanging upside down outside her window, tapping on the glass. She stumbled out of bed, and towards the window to open it.
"Mikey? What are you doing? It's late."
"Sorry, I just needed to ask you something."
...
...
Why did it have to be April?
She thought about just slamming the glass in his face and going to bed, but, knowing Mikey, that would not deter him. So, she just sighed.
"What is it?" The turtle dug around in his pockets and shoved two small squares of fabric in her face.
"Which do you like better?" He asked, smile never leaving his face. She was too tired of this, but she still reached out and felt the squares.
"This one," she said holding one up. Mikey took them back and nodded.
"Great. Thanks, April. Night." He vanished into the shadows and was gone.
April shut the window and fell to bed, too sleepy to care what on earth that was all about.
-
The last time, it was with all of them.
A few days later, she walked into the living room and found the four brothers sitting on the floor in silence.
Raph had called April a few minutes and asked her to head down to the lair as soon as she could, that it was important. He had said that nothing was wrong when she had asked, but with the way they were all gathered in a semicircle with serious looks on their face it felt like they wear going to tell her someone died.
What was happening?!
April walked and sat down with a thump in front of them and narrowed her eyes. The tension in the room was thick, but she wasn’t going to back down from whatever this was. She would face it head on and beat it into submission. She wouldn’t run, not from her friends, not from whatever this was.
“What’s going on?” she asked, staring into each of their eyes. They stared back.
“We wanted to give you something,” Raph said, sounding calm and centered. But there was a lilt to his voice, a quake that made him sound... nervous?
The red turtle reached behind him and handed over a flat white box. April took it and saw Mikey wriggle out the corner of her eye.
This felt... big. Like some kind of old sacred ritual. It felt as though there was something else in the room, a presence that made every move seem purposeful and heavy. It made her hair stand on end.
April placed the box in her lap and looked at the brothers. Each of them was turned away and... blushing?
Screw it. She’d just have to rip the Band-Aid off.
She opened the box.
Inside, was a mask.
She froze when she saw it, its long tails spread out and the eye holes stared back at her.
It was yellow.
“What’s your favorite color?”
She reached down and touched it. She knew this fabric.
“Which of these do you like better?”
That wasn’t all that was in the box though. There were also two long, green ribbons, knotted at the ends, and strung through a beaded charm, that glinted in the light. It was the symbol of the Hamato Clan.
“We were thinking you could use them for your hair.” Leo said, his eyes locked on the floor and skin a bright pink when April whipped her wide eyes up to look at him. “Because you can’t wear the mask all the time like us.”
"So, what do you use for your pigtails?"
“We wanted to make sure it could be something you could wear without it looking out of the ordinary for you.” Donnie added, scratching the back of his hand.
"I just wanted to get a sense for your style."
April looked down at the box in her hand. Her hands trembled.
This was-
Her vision blurred.
So, all this time it was-
Her throat went tight.
She had called them her brothers before, had called them her family. But she had always worried that she was wrong, that it was just her that felt like that. But this was an undeniable confirmation that yes, you are Hamato. You are our sister. We love you.
“It’s ok if you don’t want-” She lunged forward before that sentence could be finished and wrapped them in a hug. She clung to them desperately, trying to pull them closer and closer. She buried her face in someone's chest and sobbed. Tears and snot ran down her face as she kept whispering: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I love you, thank you.” over and over again.
The mask lay on one floor, having fallen out of its box, and the two charms glinted like distant stars. All the while, the Hamato Clan children hugged and cried together.
Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge (you can blame them for the feels) and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.