[This is a drabble I made on tumblr, and my friend found it and told me to upload it. I'm not gonna do that on tumblr, since it's terrifying to do it on there, so it's going on here. It's a Mikey one shot, originally with me, so that's why it has my characteristics with it. so sorry you have to read it with me in it. This idea is stemmed from this [ post/71369337398/zero-zero-zero] and it's really good, so go read it. Go. Shoo.]

It was colder than usual. But then again, the cold was the least of his worries. He still checked the fading digits at his wrist every few minutes, still wondering. Still trying to piece together what had happened that day.
The gray numbers were fading into his emerald skin like a bad tattoo. His heart was still thumping in his chest as he fumbled his fingers in an attempt to at least forget for a few hours and send his mind into a blissful sleep. But he couldn't. She was behind the door he sat outside of, a few feet away, her own dreams ravaging at her mind.
He heard her soft footsteps before her gentle fingers grazed the door handle, and he hurriedly scrambled into a standing position, both trying and failing to look like he was walking by.

But his breathing stopped as soon as he saw her. As soon as the yawn was heard an amused smile hit his lips. Who knew that acting on instinct would lead him to this creature, that had all but stopped time for him.
One arm hung in the air above her head, the other rubbing sleep from her right eye. Her dark locks tumbled messily towards her hips in waves. Spots touched at her chin and the corner of her temple, but that did nothing to scar her beauty for him. A striped belly top hung over her shoulders and chest, and thanks to her arm lifted up, her belly was on show. A silver rose tattoo peeked out from her loose jeans. She hadn't been able to change as he had brought her straight to the lair to meet the others. Also to shove I their faves that he did, indeed have a soul mate.
Her arm dropped, her eyes opened showing a bright brown, the lamplight touching at the corners of her long lashes and making them golden. A sleepy smile overtook her lips.

She blinked at him. "Hey, what are you doing out here? What's the tine?"

The terrapin stayed in his trance a few more moments, that innocent British accent still catching him off guard, before he went to check at his wrist. A chuckle escaped him as he showed the fading numbers on his wrist to her.

"I-I don't know anymore, I guess."

The two stared at each other before giggling, their laughter filling the empty hall. The girl crossed her arms and lazily pressed her shoulder to the splintering door frame. She looked up into his eyes, as she was only a few inches shorter and smiled. "Really, you don't need to sleep out here. It might be…I dunno, but if you slept in here. W-With me?"

The question had caught him off guard, but the terrapin was quick on his feet at questions and nodded. He went to step forwards and he almost fainted. The soft tendrils of faint perfume and his own bed sheets were mixed together on her skin, and he didn't know why, but it was the single best scented he'd ever smelt.

They stood together in the dim light of the doorway, both staring at each other. They hadn't realized it but their arms had snaked towards each other. His arms had gone to her waist and hers to his shoulders and forearms.
Noticing this, both blushed profusely, but amused smiles were shared. A chuckle bound up from the turtle as he pressed his forehead to hers, leaning down just once more to catch the tantalizing scent that was left on her skin.
"It's kinda surreal, y'know? I-I'm still in shock," she muttered, her warm breath mixing with his. The terrapin nodded, the only confirmation she needed in the silence. But she continued her words.

"I never t-thought," she stuttered, and the turtle felt her hand run over his shoulder blades, his upper arms and down to his wrist before running back towards his neck, and knotting themselves there. She had to know he was real, he just had to be. "I never thought you'd be real, and I'm so glad you are."

He smiled shyly, and brought her closer. A deep breath racked his chest. "I have to admit, I didn't think I'd get a human. I'd probably be one of the 'forgottens.'" both grimaced at the word. The 'forgottens' were the ones who had met someone, and their clock had stopped but the others hadn't. The clocks wouldn't reset once finished. They were the ones that were forgotten, just as their clocks had forgotten them.

But he continued, his fingertips trailing circles at the small of her back. He didn't realize how comforting it was to her. He was just naturally comforting her, just as her mere presence comforted him.

"I would've probably ran into some girl and would've gotten my own clock stopped whilst hers continued and…I probably would've just excepted it, I guess."

That was a lie, and they both understood why he'd lied. He wanted to be tough, like his brothers. But in the end, he would've been devastated if that girl had gone on, and he was forced to live life without those familiar digits, and without his soul mate in his arms. He was thankful he had met this girl.

A sad smile coated her lips and she traced shapes at his wrist where the numbers were going, and where they would probably fade by morning. "That's a lie and we both know it, you dork."

"Yeah, I guess it is but you can't blame me. I'm glad I found you, " he muttered opening his eyes to find her staring at his face. Her blush deepened once caught staring at his peaceful features, and he chuckled whilst running his thumb over her cheek bones. "I'm not a dork, by the way."

"Yeah, you are."

"Don't make me come down there," he warned jokingly, his closed smile breaking into a grin when she detached her forehead from his and laughed. The sound dazed him, just like the mere sound of him talking did to her.
The two smiled at each other in the dim light, and her small hand enveloped his, bringing him towards the bed where the messed up covers lay. She turned around as she sat down, bringing him with her. They both settled beneath the sheets, his arm thrown around her waist as they laid together, cuddling close thanks to the cold, leaking in from the hallway.

"Did you know orange is my favourite colour?" she muttered randomly, feeling his plastron vibrate with a chuckle and his beak coming down to kiss at the bare skin on her neck, pulling her even closer towards him.
As they settled into blissful, dreamless sleeping, the turtle entwined their fingers.

"Mikey?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

His eye ridges came together in confusion, and he released their fingers to pull himself up, to look at her half-sleeping form. She turned towards him lazily, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"What for? "

He hadn't expected her next answer. "For being you."

She seemed to sink into the blankets more comfortably then, seemed to slip into her dreams quickly as he pondered this. Then, he smiled and kissed at the bare skin on her neck again, lying back down and intertwining their fingers once more, where the fading numbers flashed on both their skin. The zeroes ticked by together, each disappearing at the same time.