A/N: In this premise, as my first mutants walk freely topside story, I'm thinking mutants occur more at random than by mutagen. Like the X-Men.
"As soon as I saw you I knew a grand adventure was about to happen."
- A.A. Milne
He'd grown up on a small island that was situated a ferry ride away from Seattle. And while he loved his small island, he'd also grown up as the only mutant turtle in their community. There were a few other mutants, enough that he didn't feel as though he had too many strange looks as he walked around town, but no turtles. And considering he didn't appreciate any stares in his direction, he should know better than to be caught staring himself. But when a mutant turtle appeared in the aisle of his plane ride home and then began to situate his carry-on bag into the overhead compartment where Raph was seated, Raph couldn't take his eyes off of him.
The other was in a suit, the jacket clearly tailored to cover a shell. And after his small suitcase was stowed, he sat himself down in the aisle seat right next to Raphael, all while trying to type out something on his phone. Raph took in the leafy green color of this turtle's skin, a few shades lighter than his own, and watched as familiar-looking fingers moved over the buttons of the phone.
He stared long enough that the other guy finally turned to look back at him. He was slightly relieved to see the other turtle look startled for a moment, as if the other's shock could alleviate his own guilt about openly staring.
"Hi," Raph offered when bright blue eyes met his.
"Uh, hi."
The other turtle offered a half smile before those eyes returned quickly to his phone. Raph realized he felt disappointed to have lost his attention so quickly. He did his best to stop staring at the guy and instead began watching the other passengers finish boarding. There were a few subtle glances in the direction of the row he was sharing with the other mutant turtle and he wondered how the human passengers would react if they found out that the two of them didn't actually know each other. What were the chances that there would be two turtles on the flight? And that they were seated next to each other? Even though they were strangers?
Although, honestly, watching the other passengers also gave him a good view of this other turtle in his peripheral. The other turtle who currently had a crease in his forehead as he sat frowning down at his phone.
Raph bit his tongue to keep from asking what the hell kind of problem was forcing him to frown so hard like that. Being a fellow turtle didn't give him the right to nose into the guy's business. But, as he side-eyed the other, he realized he really wanted to know what was bothering the guy.
He sighed, mostly at himself, and turned away from the aisle in order to lift the window cover and look outside. It was a cloudy day and the guys who were tossing the luggage onto the conveyer belt were already wearing rain jackets. Unfortunately watching the preparations for take-off only reminded Raph that he was about to be in the air. His fingers tightened around the ends of his two armrests as he silently cursed April for talking him into flying down here and back instead of just driving. April had pointed out that not only did they have the money for him to fly, but that doing so would be faster, giving him more free time down here in Coos Bay to do what he wanted. But those rational thoughts disappeared as he sat crammed in a small airplane seat in what he was pretty sure was one of the smallest planes he'd ever seen.
After plotting a way to get even with his sister for the flight torture, he pulled his own phone out of his pocket to glance at the time. For some reason they were still sitting at the gate, even though they should've taken off at least ten minutes prior. He practically felt the other turtle tense next to him as the flight attendant's voice came through the speakers just then, announcing that due to a maintenance issue, the flight was going to be delayed by at least an hour.
The sound of a frustrated huff let him turn to look at the clearly irritated turtle next to him as the message continued, alerting the passengers that they were allowed to de-board during the delay as long as they took all their belongings with them. Raph could see a small glint of panic in the other turtle's eyes and wondered if it was just the delay that was stressing him out.
"Hey." He suddenly felt brave enough to reach over and bump the other turtle's forearm with his knuckles. "Ya wanna get off with me?"
Startled blue eyes jumped up to meet his face again and Raph wondered why he looked so surprised until he replayed his own slightly suggestive words in his head.
"The plane? Do you want to get off the plane with me?" Raph clarified, doing his best not to flush in front of the other.
He found he couldn't be too embarrassed, though, as he watched the irritation and panic in those blue eyes be replaced by amusement.
Still, the other shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?"
"What if they take off while we're off the plane? I can barely afford this delay, let alone miss this flight."
"Ya can't miss a flight when yer already checked in." Raph offered a small grin. "Plus, they already said it was okay to de-board. They wouldn't leave without us."
"I shouldn't." He was shaking his head again. "I really need to study these documents." He lifted his phone to indicate the location of said documents, answering Raph's question about what had been keeping his interest since he'd first sat down. Raph watched now as those blue eyes turned back to the small phone screen.
He wanted to keep arguing with him, partly because he had the guy's full attention in those moments. And he suddenly wanted nothing more than for the guy to get off the plane with him, especially since the poor turtle looked like he could use a drink.
He opened his mouth to say more but stopped when he noticed that the elderly gentleman who had been seated directly in front of him suddenly stand and turn to face the rest of the passengers on the plane.
"Fellow passengers," the elderly man announced loudly, "this delay has given me an opportunity to entertain you."
Raph's eyes slid to his right and he took in the equally bewildered expression on the other turtle's face.
"You see, my family and I just had the opportunity to hear the Gettysburg Address recited while we were on our trip. And while I have such a captive audience, I am going to recite it for you."
Recite? Was this guy serious?
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth -,"
"Let's go."
It was said so low that Raph almost didn't hear it. Almost. But when the other turtle stood, grabbed his suitcase from the overhead, and then began moving down the aisle, Raphael quickly hopped up and followed him. He continued to follow as the other led him to a restaurant located next to their gate where they got seats at the bar. He stretched himself out on his stool, happy to be out of the small airplane seat. But even happier, if truth be told, to have the full attention of the other mutant turtle next to him.
He ordered a beer and watched as the other guy actually ordered a green tea. At a bar. If Casey had been there the new guy wouldn't have lived that particular bar order down. But since Casey wasn't there, Raph decided to let the drink order slide as he angled himself towards the other with a grin.
"So, I guess it's safe to assume ya hate history, huh?"
That actually earned him something close to a laugh and movement from the other turtle so that their legs were almost touching under the bar.
"That and I can't afford a headache today."
Their drinks were brought over to them and Raph tilted his glass to eye the color of the beer. Then he took a small sniff at the rim before taking his first sip. He let the taste roll over his tongue for a moment before swallowing and returning his attention to the other.
"So what's yer name?"
"Leonardo," the other said as he tilted his head thoughtfully in Raph's direction. "I'm guessing you haven't met many other turtles, have you Raphael?"
Raph's mouth dropped open in surprise, to which Leonardo tapped the pocket on the front of Raph's t-shirt with one finger. Raph glanced down and found his name printed out on the boarding pass that was sticking out of his shirt pocket. He took a quick swig of his beer to hide his slight embarrassment.
He coughed once as if to clear his throat. "No, I haven't. Zero to be exact. How many have you met?"
"I know a couple," Leo said, although he didn't elaborate. "I guess there really aren't that many turtles registered, so I shouldn't be surprised that you've never met any."
"You've actually looked up how many turtles are registered?"
Leonardo huffed out a small laugh and shook his head. "Not me. One of the other turtles I know likes to research."
"Research what?"
"Everything."
Raph could see a certain level of fondness on Leonardo's face as he thought of and spoke about this other turtle and he frowned as a stab of jealousy hit him. Thankfully, Leonardo's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Why are you going to Seattle?"
"I'm on my way home." Raph took another drink from his glass and considered the taste once again before continuing. "Seattle is a pretty busy place. I guess you're going there for business?" He was prying and he knew it. But when Leonardo's face creased into a slight frown at the comment, he quickly backtracked. "What do ya do for fun?"
"Fun?" Now Leonardo's face was creased for an entirely new reason, as if the concept of fun was a foreign concept.
"Yeah. What do you do in yer free time?"
Leo drank his tea and shook his own head. "I don't have a lot of free time."
"That must make it hard to have a relationship."
Holy hell. Did he really just say that?
Yes, yes he had. And now he had a front row seat to Leonardo stilling with the hand holding his glass frozen comically in the air between the bartop and his mouth. Leonardo recovered after a few seconds, however. He placed his glass on the bar and met Raph's eyes again.
"It does, actually. Relationships don't really fit in my schedule."
Raph wanted to feel relieved. For some reason it was important to him that Leonardo didn't have someone waiting at home for him. But he didn't like the current distant look in the other turtle's eyes. Or the thought that Leonardo wasn't remotely interested in relationships.
And when the other turtle's eyes moved to their gate, he reluctantly resigned himself to calling for their tab. He quickly paid the bill, ignoring Leonardo's protest that he could pay for his own drink, before he followed Leonardo back to their gate.
Unfortunately, the gate attendant looked surprised to see them. And they understood why a moment later when she informed them that their plane had actually only required a twenty minute maintenance delay. Which meant that their plane had taken off almost ten minutes ago. Without them.
"You can't just let a plane fly away without all the passengers!"
"I'm sorry, sir. We weren't aware that you had de-boarded."
"You didn't notice two large turtles get off the plane and sit twenty feet away?"
Raph could feel himself heating up as he threw his arm out to point to their former seats at the bar. Partly because he didn't truly believe they had been overlooked. And partly because Leonardo had already adamantly said he couldn't miss this plane. And now, because of Raph, he had.
"And you couldn't make one goddamn overhead announcement regardin a final boarding call?"
The gate attendant's eyes moved quickly from the hulking form that was Raphael over to Leonardo, who looked no less irritated. But Leonardo responded by landing a hand on Raph's shoulder and giving a tug.
"Come on, Raphael. We'll figure something out."
Raph glowered at the gate attendant again but let Leonardo drag him away.
They were practically in the next terminal before Raph calmed down enough to speak. "Thanks for pulling me away from there."
At that, Leonardo finally released his shoulder while glancing back the way they'd come with a frown. "I'd like to yell as well," he admitted. "But I thought we should get out of there before she summoned security."
Raph nodded. "Good call." He stopped walking because Leonardo had and decided to try to apologize and see if that would help the knot forming in his stomach. "I'm sorry, Leonardo."
Leonardo shrugged, although he looked pretty upset and slightly lost as he glanced around the airport. "I really needed to be on that plane. That was the last flight of the day to Seattle."
"I had no idea they'd actually leave us."
"It's not your fault, Raphael."
Leonardo's eyes met his again and although he still felt guilty, Raph found that those blue eyes seemed to have a calming effect on him.
"I just have to figure out a new way to get to Blake Island by tonight," Leo said with a sigh.
"Yer goin to Blake Island?"
Leonardo nodded. "Yes. After landing in Seattle I was going to just barely have enough time to taxi over to the ferry that goes to that island and make it to my meeting in time."
"I live on Blake Island. That's where I'm headed."
Leonardo's eyes moved quickly back to his face. "Really?"
"Yeah. Look, it's about a 7 hour drive, so I can't get ya there by tonight," he said with a certain amount of regret in his voice. "But if we can rent a car, we'll at least make it to Seattle tonight. We'll be on the first ferry tomorrow morning to the island. Can ya make that work?"
Leo looked slightly hopeful as he considered the offer. He bit his lower lip which unintentionally dragged Raph's eyes to watch his mouth.
"You really want to road trip with a stranger?" Leonardo asked.
Raph's eyes moved back up to Leonardo's as he grinned. "We'll just pretend we're not strangers. Turtles first, right?" He chuckled as he said it, since Leonardo was his first ever turtle, so the other could wonder what on earth Raph knew about turtle loyalty. But Leonardo didn't laugh in return. Instead he only tilted his head thoughtfully as he considered Raphael.
"Turtles first," Leo agreed softly after a moment. "Do you mind renting the car? I'm going to make a phone call and see if I can get my meeting rescheduled to tomorrow morning."
"Sure. I'll meet ya down there?" He threw a thumb in the direction of the rental car desks.
Leonardo nodded and Raph left him to his phone call.
A/N: I wish I was making up "Man yells Gettysburg Address to a captive audience stuck on a plane at the gate (for 2 hours and 15 minutes) while the plane receives maintenance".
But, sadly, I am not.
What I left out was that when the man got stuck on a line of the speech (and I thought he'd sit back down and be quiet and the torture would be over), random strangers actually handed him their phones with the speech pulled up so that he could continue! Apparently they were that desperate for a little history. But since it made good fodder for this part of the story, maybe I'll quit my complaining.