Authors Note: Let me just say... The chocolate, popcorn and so many tissues weren't planed. The story just get out of hands somehow.
April woke up because she felt very thirsty. In her apartment she never woke up because of it. But the air here was pretty dry. And she definitely didn't mean the air in the sewer. It was just the air in the lair that was dry.
It was winter and the lair was heated well all the time. Even though the guys weren't exactly normal turtles (and did produce own body warmth up to some point) they quick felt uneasy when it was cold. April approved the warmth, but she definitely had to bring Dons attention to the brilliant invention of humidifier.
Rubbing her eyes April searched for the flashlight she had next to her bed. The lair itself was well-lighted. But since a family of ninjas was living here, they obviously never bothered to bring on more than one switch for each area. Well, they didn't have any trouble walking the floors in the dark. But April had.
Yawning she got out of her current room (which actually belonged to Michelangelo) and walked towards the kitchen. She stopped halfway as she saw light coming from the bathroom. Well, in fact she stopped because of Mikeys voice coming out of the room. "Oh, dude, aren't you done now? You almost needed a whole pack of tissues", he said with slight complaining in his voice. "Oh, be quiet Mikey. That's just because of you." It was Donatello who answered, his voice mellow and calm like usual. He was a bit quiet but didn't sound annoyed at all.
Maybe, if April had been a bit more than ten years younger, she would have thought something dirty. Thank god she was already far from that age.
"Boy, it really won't stop. Can you at least give me the cup, Mikey?"
Okay, April admitted, she was curious. Not exactly because of the tissues but because of the cup. Cup? In the bathroom? What?
Thinking that it also might be a really bad idea, April knocked at the door. Unlike the boys she did understand the concept of knocking. "Uhm, guys?", she said, mentally getting annoyed since she really didn't wanted to sound so sheepish. On the other hand it could get really awkward.
Which was a reason why knocking was even more important. She so did not want to walk onto one of the boys doing... anything.
"April?", Mikey sounded surprised. "Uh, were sorry. Do you need to go to the bathroom?", Don asked.
"Uh, uh, no, don't worry I was just… getting a glass of water."
Okay, let's get it straight. It was around three o'clock in the morning, there were two boys in the bathroom and she stood in front of the door, explaining that she actually didn't meant to bother them and only wanted a glass water from the kitchen.
Anyone going to say that this wasn't kind of awkward?
All of a sudden the door swung open and April faced a cheerful Mikey. Way too cheerful for three in the morning. He seemed fully awake and held an almost empty pack of tissues in his left hand. And in his right one was… a cup of hot chocolate?
Seriously? Seriously?
April probably had stared quite a while at the youngest turtle because he titled his head and looked at her confused. "Are you okay April. You just had a really weird look, you know? And... what are you doing with the flashlight?"
It was nuts. The guy who just came out of the bathroom with a cup of hot chocolate asked her what she was doing with a flashlight in a dark floor.
"I just… Well, you know Mikey, I neither have night vision nor ninja senses. Flashlights help pretty much if you can't see in the dark." Either Mikey didn't notice the slight sarcasm in her voice or he just ignored it. "Uh, Mikey, I need another tissue" Don piped up from behind. April finally tore her gaze away from Mikeys cup of chocolate and looked at Don.
Oh boy, he sure did need another tissue. He had one pressed to his beak and even in the dim light of the bathroom April saw that it was all red by now. "Oh, my, Don, you got some nosebleed." She turned out the flashlight and also came into the bathroom. Mikey already was sitting on the ground in front of his brother, handing him a tissue. Don sat on the closed toilet and next to him were many bloody tissues. "Yeah, you say it April. He's bleeding out like 5 liters till now!", Mikey explained, putting his cup on the rim of the bathtub where already another cup was.
Okay, that probably was Dons one.
"I would be dead if I did, Mikey. But you know, I guess it's getting better now.", Don said. He took the tissue away to take a slip of his chocolate before he returned the tissue and the cup to where they belong for now. Suddenly April felt a bit awkward again. "Glad to hear, Don. But you guys mind if I ask why you have nosebleed? Or why on earth you're drinking hot chocolate in the bathroom?"
At that the brothers shared a short glace before Mikey answered. "I kinda sucker punched Don. And since the nosebleed wasn't stopping we transferred the hot chocolate drinking in here."
April blinked. "What?" he didn't explain anything, did he?
"Well, like I said, I kinda sucker punched Don and then he was bleeding more than a cow could pee" God, that was gross! "so he went to the bathroom for tissues and I went to the kitchen preparing popcorn and hot chocolate. But man, Donnie kept bleeding as if he wanted to simulate a massacre in here."
At that Don shot his brother a glare, obviously not amused.
"So I brought the hot chocolate here. Or else it would get cold.", Mikey finished and surged.
April blinked multiple times again. Not this was more than a little off. And being a giant, mutated, talking turtle was no excuse here. "Oookay, I see…" She did. But she was seriously confused nonetheless. "And why did you punch him anyway?"
This time Mikey looked a little embarrassed and it was Don who answered with a soft chuckle. "He thought I was a brain eating alien", he said still smiling. "You see, he was having a nightmare on the sofa after the horror movie. I happened to see him and wanted to wake him up. That's when he punched my face and screamed 'Oh god, don't eat my brain! I'll need it!' You know, I'm really surprised that no one woke up from it." While Donatello chuckled again April grinned widely as she imagined it all. "Dude, if you had seen the movie you would have been scared too!" Mikey complained and was clearly sulking. "Well, of course he would be. Though it would need an alien with quite an appetite", April said giggling. "You on the other hand don't have to worry that much." She just couldn't help right now and wind the young turtle up a little.
Mikey stared at her in bewilderment and Don cracked open. His laugh sounds a bit strange with the tissue still on his beak but it's enough to make April join him. "Did you just insult me, April!?", Mikey finally managed to get out after his shock. He sulked while Don and April kept laughing.
Until the redhead suddenly stopped. "Uh, guys? Do you smell that too?", she asked.
"I can only smell the iron in my blood right now."
"Mh... smells like something is bur… oh gosh! That's the popcorn!"
The three stared at each other for half a second before April and Mike jumped up and sprinted towards the kitchen. When they entered April immediately regretted that she showed Mikey a few days ago how to make popcorn himself. They just came right to see how the lid was blown from the pan and the brunt popcorn was flying across the room. They both squealed before April hurried to take the pan away. She put it into the sink and soon after Mikey put the lid in as well.
"Eh… I guess the popcorn is out now?", the orange clad turtle said meekly. April glared at him for a moment but then turned her head to look at Don, who now was standing at the door with a new tissue on his beak.
"Only giving microwave popcorn to him again?"
"Only microwave popcorn again."
April sighed. She wanted to drink a glass water at three in the morning and ended up in this weird episode. It was nuts here. But again she learned something about the brothers. They were survivors and survived battles and things others wouldn't.
But they were far from ready to survive simply daily life on their own yet.
Authors Note: The next chapter was suposed to be about Raph. But it's a little longer and I'm not all done yet. So you're first going to read how April finds something in the freezer and Mikey explains how and why it got there.