A/N~ ...just when I thought I'd never get back into TMNT, this show comes along and rekindles my love for this lovably dumb franchise XD
I'm not gonna lie, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, on the first episode, grabbed me in ways not even TMNT 2012 did, animation wise, character design wise, voice acting wise...just...WOW. This cartoon has promise, potential, and I'm already hooked. Praying they don't go too much down Teen Titans GO route (uuuuugggghhhh).
Soooo, here's a short fic requested on my tumblr. Bear in mind, this is my first time writing these particular turtles, so forgive me if the dialogue seems a bit off or they seem OOC. The show's only just started (doesn't premier until freaking September) so I only have so much to work from, though I hope you enjoy it regardless! XD
I OWN NOTHING!
Why.
Why this? Why is my life like this?
Such words are on repeat in April's feverish head as she trudges down the hallway from the bathroom and into her bedroom. She flops onto her bed with the grace of the slab of meat she is, groaning loudly into the pillow with a dramatic 'flair' she's sure is justified, loose curls falling over her eyes.
A cold. A freaking cold.
April O'Neil, certified ass-kicker alongside four ninja mutant turtles on a regular basis (whether it's convenient for her or not, more often than not it's the latter), has been thoroughly owned by the common cold. Or maybe it's worse. Sure feels that way.
Worse still, her dad's working overnight, leaving April home alone.
This sucks.
Peeking over her pillow, April checks her alarm clock on her bedside table. It reads 3:00pm, meaning it's still pretty bright out, meaning it's still not quite safe enough for the turtles to come topside, even for four (semi)trained ninjas.
But…but…
She's lonely.
It's too quiet in her apartment compared to the turtles' lair, where she's constantly surrounded by laughter, explosions, music, playful banter and Splinter's fond chuckling from the living room as he watches from a distance. There's comfort and assurance around the turtles whom she's come to adore as her own, the little brothers she wishes she grew up with. Sure she's got Mayhem, who trots in at her groaning and nestles into her side, and she's grateful for that, but they're not much of a talker…
She wants, so badly, for the turtles to be here.
But it's daylight, and they can't risk being seen. She could always go to theirs, but she hasn't got the energy to get up, get dressed and go outside. Not only that, but she might get them sick too, and the last thing she wants is for her best friends to come down with what she has or worse. She has no idea how mutants react to different contagious diseases, and she'd rather not find out, not with her friends.
But she's sick, admittedly a little upset, and so freakin' lonely. Being sick and lonely is just as bad as being sick period…
Screw it, she decides as she feebly reaches for her phone on the floor until Mayhem picks it up for her in their mouth, and she brings up Donnie's number. I want my boys here.
Three rings later, Donnie picks up.
"You're conversing with Donatello, how may I assist you today?" he says, and April can hear his stupid grin, hear his brothers messing around in the background and shouting their own greetings (she must be on speaker again) and it almost brings tears to her eyes with how much she loves these idiots.
"Hey, Dee," she croaks, her throat dry and sore from the coughing fit of two minutes ago and the cold itself. She clears her throat, and of course it only makes it worse as she coughs lightly into her fist, trying to do it away from the speaker.
Donnie hears it, of course, and his tone changes instantly. "Hey, are you alright?" he asks, the humor gone from his voice, and the noise dying in the background. All the guys must be listening now.
So April goes ahead and eloquently replies – "Ugh."
"I'll take that as a 'no'."
"Yeah," April mumbles miserably, Mayhem hopping back onto the bed to cuddle against her thigh. "Got a bad case of the cold, in case it wasn't already obvious."
"No freakin' kidding," Raph says somewhere directly behind Donnie. "You sound terrible. No offense."
"None taken," she manages a weak chuckle, shifting to lie flat on her back as she sniffs hard, but not too hard, she doesn't want another nosebleed. Mayhem takes this opportunity to hop onto her stomach instead, and she lets them. "Listen, I hate to do this to you guys right now, 'specially since it's daytime, but –"
"I'm going to stop you right there, Miss O'Neil," Donnie interjects with a tone he uses on his brothers when he knows they're being stupid and stubborn but he loves them too much for it to bite as much as it would to anyone else. In this case, that includes April. "You're our best friend, April. For you, we'd do anything, you know that," he continues, like she should've known better. "Unless it involves spiders or bees or –"
"Beach balls and stuff, yeah, I know, I know," April says with a nod she knows he can't see, but a dumb smile graces her cracked lips because, yeah, she should've known better. Her best friends – her brothers, really, in every way that matters – have always had her back whenever she needed them in the past. Sometimes it still ends in chaos, but hey, she got Mayhem outta one of those times so there's something.
She coughs again, accidentally knocking Mayhem off her stomach as she hacks uncontrollably. She hears Mikey wince in sympathy. "Yikes, you sound really bad, April. Cough up a lung there or somethin'?" the youngest asks, and he sounds genuinely worried. That's not good. Worried turtles tend to do stupid things.
"Sounded more like a spleen to me," Leo eloquently adds, and it's followed by a yelp when someone (no doubt Raph) smacks him and cusses him out. Leo, in the typical Leo fashion, cusses right back, and it's a good thing her dad's not home because, mutants or not, he would've reached into this phone and scrubbed their mouths clean if he ever heard the words these fifteen/fourteen-year-olds are throwing at each other.
April rolls her eyes and decides to cut to the chase before she loses them for good in the heat of another dumb dude argument. "Listen, guys, I called to ask…if y'all ain't in the middle of somethin' or whatever…you think you can come over to my place for a bit?"
Dead silence.
"…you want us to come over to yours?" Donnie asks a moment later like he's trying to process it, and then he chuckles nervously. "You've – you've never invited us over before – not that that's a problem or anything, I'm just saying –!"
"What Donnie means to say," Raph interrupts, no doubt shoving his younger brother aside to get closer to the speaker, "is are you sure you want us over? I mean, we don't have a problem with it, 'cos it's you, and we ain't doin' anythin' right now or whatever, but –"
"I know, I know, it's still daylight and you can't be seen and it's risky as hell, but my dad's not gonna be home 'till tomorrow afternoon and…" April bites her lip, sighs, and finally admits, "…I need you guys right now. Mayhem's great, but…I need someone to talk to. I'm…I'm lonely, alright?"
More silence, a little longer than the last one.
April waits, fingers drumming against her phone as she sniffs again; stupid blocked nose, now they're gonna think she's actually crying. Well, she is a little misty-eyed because being sick just sucks but –
"We'll be right over," four voices declare unanimously without a trace of humor, taking April by surprise. Before she can get another word in, Donnie hangs up and the line goes dead.
April stares at her phone for a full minute, shares a look with Mayhem, before she sighs again and lets her arm drop on the bed as she stares up at the ceiling. "Well…guess that means they're on their way," she says to her alien pet and the walls, and she sets her phone back on her nightstand, closes her eyes and settles in to wait for however long it'll take for her boys to –
Tap-tap-tap.
April's eyes snap open at the sound coming from the other side of her window. Mayhem pricks their ears.
"Special delivery for April O'Neil!"
What?
"We come in peace, and we bear gifts! Mostly medicine and all the medical equipment required to keep you healthy and preferably breathing!"
No way.
"Open up right now and you'll receive a one-of-a-kind turtle hug free of charge by yours truly, Michel An Gelo!"
How in the hell?
"No, seriously, April, open the window I think people are staring to look up –"
April scrambles, nearly careens to the floor and narrowly misses stepping on Mayhem's tail in her haste to get to the window and all but throw it open. All four turtles roll in – literally – from the fire escape and into the safety of her cosy-ish home.
That…was incredibly fast, even for ninjas. That was even faster than last time with Al-Bear-to, and that was considering she'd called for help and there was free pizza.
Leo's the only one who manages to land on his feet okay, minus a slight stumble over Raph's arm sticking out from where he's squished under a groaning Mikey and cursing-under-his-breath Donnie. The blue clad turtle grins at her, holding up a bulging plastic bag. "Hey Ape! We brought everything Donnie told us you'll need; tissues, hand sanitizer, ice cream that's only a little melty and –"
He stops himself, looking her over for the first time, and his grin falls like a house of cards. "Holy crap you look awful!"
She's on her way to smiling before Leo opens his trap, and instead she pins him with a look that's only slightly aided by her flushed cheeks and reddened eyes as she folds her arms. She doesn't need to say a thing, because Leo's already backing off with an apologetic smile as his brothers untangle themselves from the floor.
Mikey takes one look at her, wearing her warmest pajamas, barely standing and sniffing even as she's glaring at Leo, and then he's rushing her, arms out wide to grab her in a hug, but a hissed warning from his older brothers stops him before he can slam into her like he usually does. Instead, he screeches inches from her, and then carefully collects her into his arms like she's made of glass, but the hug holds no shortage of love as his cheek squishes against hers.
And though he doesn't pull away, he does wince – "Wow, you're really burnin' up," he says, pulling back just a bit to look at her flushed face, brows knitting worriedly. "Guess Leo wasn't kidding when he said you'd coughed up a spleen, 'cos you look it, too –"
"Can we not?" April mutters, gently prying herself from Mikey's arms to glare at him and Leo with less heat than normal, because she really is happy to see them, but the comments are uncalled for, so – "With your astute observations, can we just not?"
The turtles in question have the decency to look sheepish as they nod. "Sorry," they chime in unison and bow at the waist. She nods, satisfied.
Donnie rolls his eyes and shoves past his younger brothers, pressing a calloused, three fingered hand to her forehead. He frowns in displeasure and what he seems to find, painted brows furrowing. "Yeeeeah, you need to sit, right now," he says and takes her arm, guiding April to the bed and setting her down as he roots through his med kit.
"Before you say anything," he starts as he takes out a thermometer and gestures her to open up, which he does, and he pokes the tip into her mouth, "yes we got here implausibly fast but that's because we were already halfway here pretty much the second you asked us to come, yes I brought pretty much my whole medical kit with me, yes we brought as many of your favorite movies you left back at the lair that we could carry for us to watch later to make you feel better, yes we've already ordered your favorite pizza plus ours which should be here in t-minus three minutes or it's three bucks off –"
"And yes we all kinda sorta maybe panicked a bit and booked it half way across town because we collectively thought you were dying," Leo adds where he's sat in April's beanbag chair by her door. Raph throws a can of soda from the plastic bag at Leo's head, which Leo catches easily and proceeds to drink from it, failing to hide his smug-ass grin from his growling red clad brother. Mikey just snickers at their banter, face stuffed in the belly of April's giant Cat Bus plushie, Mayhem curled up on his carapace.
Kneeling in front of April to take the thermometer from her mouth when it beeps, Donnie rolls his eyes again, but concedes, "Yes, yes, we did think you were dying, but only because Raph panicked first, and you know how you can smell his fear and then it spreads to the rest of us –"
"I told you to stop talkin' about my fear stink, asshole!"
"Language, Raphael," Leo drones, absently petting Mayhem's fur when they hop off Mikey's shell and take Leo's lap instead. "Can't talk like that around a lady, prick."
"Yeah but she – Ey, did you just call me a prick?!"
"Yeah, so? You gonna call the cops?"
"Oh, I'mma call in an order for a knuckle sandwich, c'mere you little –!"
"Can you not destroy April's apartment on our first visit please and thank you!" Donnie barks at them over his shoulder as the two start tousling on the not exactly spacious floor, poor Mikey getting caught in the crossfire. Mayhem yowls and teleports themselves elsewhere in a flash of blue, probably the safety of the living room.
Donnie just gives up on his brothers and reads the number on the thermometer instead. He blinks, "Whoa this is higher than I thought, but not worryingly high. I had to read up human temperatures on the way here because believe me, the difference between cold blooded and warm blooded are not to be confused and –"
He stops when he looks back up at April, thermometer slipping from his fingers as he stares at her in abject shock. She doesn't need to ask why. The evidence leaks down her face and she hasn't the will to wipe them away as her lower lip trembles.
The tears, of course, sends Donnie into a panic.
"Oh – oh no, oh jeez, April, no, why are you crying?!" he cries, hands hovering over her like he wants to reach out and hug her but he's too afraid and confused to do much of anything. His brothers cease their dumb tousle on the floor and lock onto April with a frightened, worried sort of intensity.
"Oh my god, Don, what the actual hell did you do?!" Leo barks, sounding generally angry as he untangles himself from the turtle pile and stomps over to Donnie, who holds up his hands in surrender.
"I didn't do anything, she – she just started crying and I don't know what – oh no no no no she's crying harder –!"
"Where does it hurt?!" Mikey hurls himself over his brothers' shells and lands next to April on the bed, reaching for her wrists and carefully prying her fisted hands away from her streaming eyes, his own blown wide with anxiety as he scans her up and down. "Are you that sick? April, girl, talk to me! Mikey's here for ya!"
"Holy crap you're not actually dying are you?!" Raph curses, and if he had hair he'd no doubt be tearing it out. "Oh freakin' – Donnie you've gotta fix her!"
"I can't fix her, Raph, she's not dying she's crying!"
"Then fix what you did wrong!"
"Yeah, apologize!"
"I didn't freakin' do anything wrong, why are you all ganging up on me –?!"
Before they can decide to rush her to the hospital or beat the snot out of Donnie, April sniffs, using her shoulder to wipe the tears from her cheek as Mikey's still holding her hands. "Guys," she says through a cross between a watery laugh and another cough, and their eyes are like deer's in headlights as they whirl on her. God, they look so worried it almost sets her off again.
So she smiles instead. "I'm – I'm not hurt. I'm just…I'm really happy you guys are here."
They stare at her for a moment, perplexed, finally understanding her tears weren't born from sadness or pain, but joy and love for her extended family.
Mikey's the first to break the silence as he positively beams at April, throwing his arms around her shoulders and folding her into his arms as he chimes, "Awwww! April, we're happy you're happy we're here, too!"
Donnie and Leo are next, piling onto the bed to join the hug just as April lifts her arms to wrap them around Mikey's waist. Leo grins into her hair, and Donnie mutters "Why didn't you just say so instead of scaring the freakin' hell outta us like that and almost getting me beat up?" but she can hear the relief and the smile in his tone. Raph, big as he is, straight up gathers them into his arms and plucks them off the bed, hugging them tight. Donnie starts complaining right away that he can't breathe, Leo's squirming, Mikey's suffocating, and in the middle of it all, April's laughing.
Eventually, they carry their loot and goods – and April, who ropes Donnie into giving her a piggyback ride – into the living room for their movie night/cheer April up night (Mikey's idea, and it's a great one).
April only has to get up once to collect her pizzas and tip the delivery girl, and then she's swamped with warm blankets, junk food and a nest of pillows and turtles as they decide which movie they're gonna watch first.
They really have brought all of her favorites, the ones she takes to the lair and forgets to take home, so it's a hard pick; they eventually go with 'Howl's Moving Castle' to start with, cry through 'A Dog's Life', make fun of 'Jurassic World', scream and hide in the bathroom through 'The Ring', and eventually decide 'The Last Airbender' really is worse than they remember before calling it a night halfway through.
April briefly wakes up around one in the morning. She can barely see without her glasses let alone in the dark, but she cranes her neck to look around anyways. She's surrounded by empty packets of popcorn, candy wrappers and pizza boxes; Mikey's cuddling her like a teddy bear on her right, Donnie's curled up on her left holding her hand, Leo's sprawled over her lap and snoring into a pillow, and her head is resting on Raph's beefy arm, Mayhem reclaiming their place on her stomach.
Their gentle snores, Mayhem's odd purr/chuffing, combined with the early bustle of traffic in the city beyond the walls of her apartment, are a soothing ambience.
Yeah, April decides as she cuddles closer to Mikey, sighing contentedly, this is fine. My boys are here. I'm not lonely anymore…
With her fever starting to break and a few more hours of sleep ahead of her, surrounded by her boys on the floor of her living room, April smiles and goes back to sleep.