Disclaimer: These characters belong to Nickelodeon and other parties. However, this plotline is mine.
The smell just won't go away. It was stuck there, permanently etched between the carpet fibers, emanating foul aromas into the air. The scent was as ancient as hieroglyphics, yet told tales to visitors who then came up with farfetched translations. Two hands worked tediously at the ground trying to scrub the invisible stains out with lemon-scented chemicals, powerful enough to knock out a toddler. April was certain her nose receptors were burnt out, but the smell.
"It just won't disappear!" She grumbled and at the same time wondered if she was being paranoid. No one ever complained about the smell. At least, no one in the case of extremely rare visits from regular people. Her usual guests were possibly immune to the scent after all those years. They had to be. She continued her religious scrubbing ritual until the scent suddenly kicked up again.
"What the hell..." She sat back on her knees and flung the scrubbing brush back into the bucket in pitiful defeat. This new wave of fragrance was so pungent that it made her carpet seem minty fresh before she even began scrubbing.
"You need some help with that?" Asked a friendly voice out of nowhere, startling the woman greatly.
She caught her breath fast enough to look up at the unexpected visitor and scowled at him. Not that he was uninvited or did not have the courtesy to knock, but because of his feet. She saw his feet first; his and the other three pairs, standing on her almost-clean carpet. They were huge. Huge feet that were bare of shoes; which was wonderful for people who had expensive wooden floors and O.C.D, but not her. No, she had no issues with shoes or anything of that matter. What she had issues with was the smell.
Their feet were slightly wet and smelled of...
"No!" April snapped, jumping to her feet to face the four surprised mutants standing before her.
"April?" Leonardo, the leader, had the most puzzled expression on his face ever witnessed and his head was tilted to one side, questioning.
"What's wrong, April?" Michelangelo immediately jumped in. "Are you all right?" He already had his pair of nunchaku in hand. He was ready to act on her behalf because he hated whenever she was upset or distressed. It was an admirable trait of the teen, and worthy of a woman's awe, but Mikey was that way with everyone, so April knew not to feel that special about the camaraderie.
"Enough of this!' She pointed at the four turtles and wagged her finger threateningly as if she was accusing them of heresy. Her hand was hidden by an oversized, purple rubber glove and the excess material at the tip of her finger flopped up and down. Thankfully the guys were too confused by her outburst to make fun of it.
"Enough of what?" Donatello asked, looking about him and his brothers for the offending article; whatever it was. He was as clueless as his brothers, even though he was the one with a much higher intellect.
"Nobody move," the woman suddenly warned, giving each mutant a small glare, earning one in return from none other than Raphael. He smirked at her too. Then she turned around and stalked off in the direction of her closet.
She was gone for roughly one minute when the youngest soul, who actually managed to stay rooted to his spot, spoke up. "Dudes, you think she's in one of those womanzilla-moods we keep hearing about on TV? I mean, we've only known her for about two months now, so it was bound to happen sooner or later. You know what they say; 'a woman will be pretty and perfect for the first couple of dates, but when things get serious, she'll show her true colors. And by "true colors" they mean no make-up. Bad mood swings and all.' And what's up with those gloves? They're gigantic. And purple. How can she clean in those things? Did you see the way they were flopping around? You can't even use nunchaku with those things on. It would totally mess up the flow, you know? "
"Mikey, stop making -" Leonardo had started to reply to his orange-masked sibling, when April came stomping back into the room, ending all conversation.
She was holding a bucket filled with water in one hand and a shaggy door-mat was hung over her shoulder, while in the other arm, she had what looked like four towels.
"You're gonna make us clean your apartment?" Raphael demanded, eyeing the items with vehemence.
"Raphael," Leonardo scolded, "it's only fair that we help her out with her chores. We've been storming in and out of here quite frequently, and she has always been very welcoming to us. Master Splinter would say it's the proper thing to do." Leonardo's little speech got no applause, but a couple of grandeur eye rolls from Mikey and Raph, yet he seemed esteemed by it.
"No, I think she wants us to shower." Donatello corrected. His eyes were focused on the four towels tucked beneath her arm.
"Shower?"
Now the four of them looked insulted and stared incredulously at the human.
April, determined to have peace of mind in her own apartment, was not about to be intimidated by the four ninjas frowning at her. She passed the bucket to Donny who took it right away, in spite of his displeasure, and told him to place it outside on the fire escape. He obliged willingly. She doubted the others would have complied so easily to her request, so she chose the one who would do the actual job before asking questions.
"I have new rules," she announced as soon as Donatello came back inside.
"You want us to shower out there?" Michelangelo interrupted.
"No," she answered, stifling a laugh. "Not entirely anyway. So here's the deal: From now on, every single one of you will have to wash your feet off and then dry them before entering my apartment. Is that clear?"
"Why?" Came Raphael's challenge. He appeared more miffed about this idea than the shower theory.
"Because," she dragged the word out for emphasis and wagged her floppy gloves at his feet, "your feet stink!" She hadn't meant for it to come out that way, but it did. "You bring in traces of sewer water on your feet and it gets into my carpets and..." She was waving her hands around and her voice took on a whiny tone in her exasperation. "I'm sorry, Guys, but it's the truth. I'm tired of cleaning it and trying to get the dirt and smell out."
"Wow." Mikey's jaw slackened and he looked down at his feet. "That's harsh," he stated.
"It's not your feet that stinks, just the water from your feet when you walk through the sewers. That's all, I promise. You know I love you guys," she supplied meekly, praying that she did not hurt their feelings.
"You have a funny way of showing love, Sister," Raphael commented. He was still rooted to his spot and looked lost for a while; possibly afraid to move and spread more sewer water about April's floor.
"Why didn't you say something before?" Donatello moved to take the towels from her hands, while Leo removed the door-mat from her shoulder.
"Or leave a mat by the window?" Leonardo suggested as he inspected the hand-painted pandas on the mat.
"Leave mats by all of the windows," Mikey said, making note of every entrance they have used in the past month.
"Honestly, I didn't know what to do or say to you," April admitted. She had thought about it, however never proceeded with the plan because she was a major procrastinator and had no intentions of explaining the purpose of a bunch of mats in and around her home. "So, are you okay with it?"
"Uh... I guess," Mikey said, scratching his temple. "We don't really have a choice in the matter."
"Of course we're okay with it," Leonardo confirmed. "It's your home, April, and we would never do anything to mess it up intentionally or make you uncomfortable. Right, Guys?"
His three siblings paused momentarily and their faces contorted for a brief instant with unsurety before they agreed. The blue-masked leader offered her a weak smile and in the background Mike and Don made thumbs-up gestures. Raphael took another direction and shook his head from side to side, showing her a grim expression.
April had to refrain from rolling her eyes and saying something sarcastic in return. She thought, "Roight."
"Thanks. That means so much to me," she managed, watching the mutants curiously. "And by the way, you all can move freely now. We'll wash the carpet on Saturday."
She chuckled when they sighed in relief and went about getting their feet cleaned outside before exploring the rest of her house, as it was mostly a custom with Raphael and Michelangelo.
...
(Ten days later)
The keys rattled in April's hand as she struggled to slip the key into the last lock to open the door to her apartment. To make matters worse, she was in hurry and fighting the need to get to the bathroom. Her bathroom. She hadn't been inside of her home for the last eight days, since she was forced to vacate by Donatello on the count of a threat. The genius insisted that she was being watched by the Foot, and convinced her to 'bunk' with them until they found out what was going on. Sure enough they sorted out the issue with the Foot and told her that it was safe to move back in. Nevertheless, she never found out what had happened.
She finally got the door opened and rushed inside, making a beeline for the bathroom.
(Clomp, clomp, clomp.)
Suddenly, all four mutants appeared in her way and yelled, "Surprise," grinning from ear to ear. April slowed her pace a little to gaze at them in wonder and continued onwards; too distracted by her bladder to even respond.
"Well, what do you think?" Donatello asked, looking anxious for a reply.
"What do I -wha - I want to pee," she blurted out, waving them out of her way and rushed into the bathroom, leaving the deflated bunch behind.
She emerged again to find the brothers in the living room, tossing a small, silver tassel back and forth amongst themselves.
"Now, what were you saying 'surprise' for?" She asked in much cheerier tone, approaching the four occupied guests.
(Clomp, clomp, clomp...)
They turned around at the sound of her voice and beamed proudly. Michelangelo opened his mouth to explain, but she stopped him. "Wait, what is that sound?"
She made an about turn and looked down when she heard a 'clomp' come from the heel of her boots. April froze at the sight of the cause for the strange sound and sank to her knees clutching her chest. She gasped out loud and inhaled sharply, letting out a high pitched squeal.
"See, I told you it wasn't a good idea, Genius," Raphael boomed, pacing around like a caged tiger. "But nooo, you just had to have it your way, didn't ya?"
"Uhm, April?" Donny gently poked the young woman's shoulder, fearful that she may collapse. "Are you okay?"
"No, she's not okay!" Raph answered, "are you blind? Can't you see, we gave her a heart attack!"
"She's not having a heart attack," Mikey interjected, "Those are tears of joy. Go on, April, and tell them." He ruffled the hair on April's head to get her attention, however all of her attention was focused on the newly polished hard-wood floors beneath her. She was passing her hand over the smooth surface, tracing along the wood grain as if in a trance.
"I think she's broken," Raphael summed up sarcastically, and then the bickering began overhead.
"We broke her?" Mikey lamented.
"We did not!" Donatello argued.
"Guys, calm down. I'm sure she's not... broken," Leonardo concluded.
"How?" April asked, breaking through their quarrel. Out of all the questions she wanted to ask, that was the only one she could have pronounced.
Leonardo, who was more than happy to explain or glad she was out of her stupor, said, "Well, after you told us about your problem with the carpet and the smell, Donny came up with a plan to get rid of it entirely. And the whole Foot thing was just a rouse to get you out of the house so we could get to do the..."
"Ninja Home Makeover," Mikey piped in, cutting across his brother.
"Yeah, we wanted it to be a surprise, since it was our fault your carpet was being ruined," Donatello said, smiling. "Bet you didn't know there were hard-wood floors underneath. Although, they were mostly too old to restore. We've always known they were there because we've felt the extra spring beneath the carpet when we were walking around. According to survey, well according to those home improvement shows on television, everybody seems to be obsessed with hardwood floors, so I guessed you would love them too."
April's green eyes locked on the turtle that was crouched in front of her. Of course she was aware of the wooden flooring. She was the one who installed the carpet six months ago because she wanted a change from it. She loved how soft the carpet felt against the soles of her feet. "What did you do?"
"Oh." The purple-masked ninja stood up and helped her off the ground. "It was obvious that you would have to do extensive cleaning just to keep your carpet fresh, so I thought it would be a great idea to remove it altogether and upgrade your flooring to one that is stylish, convenient and low maintenance. Check it out. We've replaced all the damaged boards with one of the best types of wood one can find in -"
Donatello faltered in his speech when Raphael coughed and then he appeared to have switched from what he was planning to say originally. "Yes, uh - as I was saying - we replaced all of the damaged floor boards with Brazilian Walnut and then we polished it. Now you don't have to worry about soggy carpets or lingering smells and you don't have to spend all that amount of time cleaning. All you need is a Swiffer Sweeper." He handed her a Swiffer Sweeper cleaner which Michelangelo brought forth from behind the couch, "And you're set to go."
"I see." April blinked at them, sensing the onset of a headache. "Where did you get the Ipe?" She enquired, suspicious of their procurement methods. "Or the money to buy it?"
"Don has money," Michelangelo answered frankly, before he dived bodily onto the couch and flipped the remote into his hand.
Donatello shrugged. "I sometimes make money doing online work, but that's not what's important here," he smartly changed the subject. "The question is: are you happy with what we've done?"
The headache was at its finest in April's head now and she wanted to lecture them about interfering with people's property without consulting them first. Unfortunately, the two turtles; Don and Leo looked utterly desperate for an approval as opposed to a rebuttal. Michelangelo assumed that she was happy from the very beginning so was done with the discussion in favor of a cartoon called 'The Regular Show.' While Raphael expected her to admonish his siblings for their self-imposed heroism.
She forced a smile. "Yes, I'm happy."
The boys exhaled in relief and Raph shook his head in disappointment. Leo turned to him and stretched his hand out.
"I think you owe me twenty, Raphael. Don was right."
With that, April turned around and headed to her bedroom to rest. From behind she heard Donatello bickering with the two dominant siblings. He said, "I can't believe you guys made bets against me. That's not fair. And why wasn't I included?"
And Mikey's complaints about how they were disturbing his show. "Bros, be quiet. This is where Rigby saves Mordecai!"
Not to forget the infamous clomp, clomp, clomping of her shoe on the hardwood floors. It was going to be a very long night; she knew.
(The end.)
A/N: If anyone feels to leave a review; thank you. ;)