Mikey frowned in puzzlement as Denim hurried off to the bathroom with Alli, who waved cheerfully as she went. He returned the gesture with a smile that he was pretty sure didn't reach his eyes. Somehow this whole evening had gone much better in his head when he was planning it.
How was everything turning into such a mess? Granted, his sisters could be a little...intimidating if you didn't know that they were totally joking with most of what they said. Maybe. He hoped. And why was everyone going all Elmer Fudd on their waitress? She hadn't messed up their orders. Yet. Maybe April had gotten one of those premonitions and forgotten to tell him.
"I can't fit in the bathroom." Medusa hissed, drawing his attention back to table.
"Potty time" his mother chirped, hopping up to grab his little brother and nephew off of Medusa.
"I don't need to go potty." Anton whined as his mother dragged him along.
She leaned in close, whispering, "Too bad, you can help Squeaky Toy."
Mikey smiled at the use of his baby brother's nickname. It was so awesome to be the big brother for a change...though technically he was the same age as Leo, Raph and Don, they'd always treated him like a little kid. Actually, they kind of still did sometimes. But at least now, Yuuta could pull some of the focus. They'd all learn to respect team little bro when Yuuta finally took to the pranking lessons he'd been trying. Yes, then there would be sweet, sweet retribution.
In a better mood now, Mikey turned back to the waitress, who was running her hand down the ear draped over her shoulder. Was it itchy? Maybe she had fleas. He knew his dad and Yuuta certainly had to be vigilant against that. Fur must be hard.
"My girlfriend and I, and our girl, Alli will split a double order of pizza gyoza." The rabbit stopped stroking her ear and frowned, but Mikey paid it no mind. He was tempted to make it a triple, but wasn't entirely sure how far his twenty would stretch, especially when he wasn't sure what everyone else would order, so he played it safe. "And I suppose, we'll stick with water."
The waitress leaned in, her cleavage visible, hadn't her shirt been buttoned higher before, and mere inches from his face before he abruptly jerked back. "Are you sure you wouldn't like an appetizer or," she licked her lips, "some dessert."
He opened his mouth to answer, but faltered when she ran her hand over the top edge of his shell. Normally, Mikey wasn't averse to touching. He was the first to openly display physical affection towards friends, or those who would soon be friends. And he was a huge fan of creative fist bumps and choreographed handshakes. And despite what his brothers insisted, the surprise hug pile was absolutely the best way to break up a tense family moment. But, this was setting off alarm bells and making him shift in his seat to pull away. Any further and he'd be falling out of his chair.
Mikey scooched his chair back and sideways, knocking into Raph a little bit, as he moved to break the contact. "Uh, no, we're totes good." He turned beseechingly to the rest of his family. "So what do you guys want to order?"
"I wassssss thinking of braisssssed rabbit," Medusa said in a deadly voice, her gaze unblinking on the rabbit mutant. "What would you suggest?"
As Raph and Karai chuckled, the rabbit stood up straight and cocked her hip out to the side. She opened her mouth, but Leo interrupted her.
"We would all like the family style Hibachi noodles, please." He glanced around the table, as if expecting someone to make a scene. When there was none, he added, "And a pot of tea."
TSOTCTSOTC
Phoenix walked up to Denim as all three little ones ran into a stall. Yuuta climbed up on the seat of a toilet and sat, not at all intending to go to the potty.
"You alright, hon?" the older woman asked, putting her hand on Denim's shoulder. Her dark green eyes were filled with compassion, the smile on her face kind.
Denim rubbed her hands together. Her eyes flickering to Phoenix then away. "I'm sorry, I swear I'm not a drama queen. I'm not. I just-" her head tipped to the side, "Would you believe they flirt with him and he doesn't seem to notice?" She stopped herself as if realizing the absurdity of what she'd just said.
She shook her head. "I mean of course he doesn't, he's Mikey. But here I am slightly concerned that your daughter might try to eat mine, and then there's this bunny rubbing all over him and I just," Denim stomped her foot, "I'm trying really hard not to lose my shit."
Her eyes widened, her hand flying up to her mouth. "Oh, gods. I'm so, sorry. That was-" She glanced toward the stall where three little faces whipped up to look at her. She took a shaky breath. Her brow furrowed and she forced herself to meet Phoenix's gaze. "This happens a lot. They flirt with him because he's adorable, and he's completely oblivious to it. It's what they say to me if he leaves the table, or when I do, just like this. They follow me. Trust me, she'll say her piece before the meal is done." Denim swallowed, swiped at blurry eyes. "They always do. It's just, usually I don't feel like I need to be on my best behavior when I handle it. Mikey never knows about it and life goes on."
Before Phoenix could respond the sound of synchronized toilet flushing caught their attention. Yuuta, Anton and Alli were each in a different stall. Yuuta flushed first to set a rhythm then Anton and Alli picked it up.
"Row, row, row your boat down the rapids!" Anton sang, then reached over and began feeding the roll of toilet paper into the bowl. "How much do you think it can hold? Look, Yuuta!"
"Oh, honey," Phoenix crooned, "Medusa isn't going to eat your daughter. I promise."
The rat pup ran from his flushing toilet, to his nephew's, grabbing the side of the toilet bowl to peer in it.
"Boys!" Phoenix admonished, running to Anton's toilet, and grimacing when she looked inside. "Oh dear," she moaned, "Anton, how much did you put in there?"
"Just that much, Gr'mare." the turtle pointed to the mostly empty toilet roll.
"Yuuta, get me the plunger," she said in a badly-done-to voice.
Yuuta shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, go look for it, Squeaky Toy," she replied. Walking over to Yuuta's stall, she tilted her head to look in it. "I think Yuuta is faster than you, Anton," she muttered, upon seeing the amount of toilet paper in it.
"No, he's not," he muttered back.
She popped her head out to see Denim dealing with Alli. "Being on your best behavior isn't what Mikey wants," she called, taking the plunger from Yuuta. "Go wash your hands," she said gently. "You too, Anton." She said the boy's name with a nasal ending, almost dropping the /n/. "None of us want you to be on your best behavior." She flushed the toilet again, only to frantically plunge it. "We want you to be you."
"No," Anton said over the noise of running water and flushing toilets. "You have to do it like this, Yuuta. All the way up your arms, so your fur gets clean."
Phoenix moved over to Antonello's stall. "We want you to be you." She poked her head out. "Mikey brought you to dinner tonight because he likes you. Not the best behavior you. He wanted his family to meet his girlfriend."
TSOTCTSOTC
Mikey breathed a sigh of relief as the last order was placed. Until the waitress started walking along his side of the table to go put their orders in. Not wanting to make a huge fuss about her odd, uber-touchy-feeliness, he ducked below her hand as she walked by, smiling triumphantly at his evasion. That's right yo. Don't mess with a ninja. Lightning reflexes don't lie. Why were Raph, Donnie and Leo staring at him?
Following their line of vision to his shoulder, he noticed a slip of paper sticking out of his shell. Huh? He reached up, plucked it out, and unfolded it. A phone number, followed by Deanna, call me. What? Why would she...
The pieces clicked together and his fist closed around the paper, crumpling it. Looking up at the varied expressions of his relatives, all watching him, he realized that they all knew. Had known. So that was why...Denim! Oh shell, had Denim noticed too? So that's what was wrong.
Raph had that particular smirk he saved for the rare moments when Mikey was well and truly angry and not at him. And his brother was spot on again. Tonight was supposed to be special and now everything was going wrong and wronger. At least he could fix some of it.
Jaw clenched, he stood and stomped over to the end of the corner, where their waitress, Deanna he assumed, chatted animatedly with a bored looking waiter. He wasn't making any effort to be stealthy and she heard him approach, smiling victoriously at the sight of him, failing to notice his expression.
"Hey, cutie."
He slapped the paper onto the counter. "Sorry. I've already got the best girl there is, so I don't need that. And I'd appreciate it if you'd switch off and let someone else wait our table for the rest of the night. Trust me, if you stick around, don't count on much of a tip."
Satisfied as her face changed from incredulous to furious, he turned on his heel and walked away. Now he had to make things right with Denim.
"Uh, Mikey...that's the wome..."
Raph cut Donnie off. "Shh. I want to see this."
Zoe elbowed him.
Mikey looked up and realized he was a second away from barging into the women's restroom. Because that would really cap off the evening. He fidgeted, unsure of what to do. Maybe he could knock.
TSOTC
Denim tugged Alli away from her toilet flushing. The toddler strained, reaching out for the handle then kicking her foot at it. "No, Mommy, I have to finish the song!"
Denim grunted, struggling with her flailing child. "No, honey, we need to wash up and get back to the dinner table." She twisted around, holding Alli out towards the sink to perform the scrub down ritual again.
"No bubbles! No bubbles!" Alli flailed, flinging suds covered arms, sending a spray of them over Phoenix, Anton and Yuuta.
Denim groaned. "I'm sorry. She's not a big fan of suds."
"I ain't a big fan of'em neither," Anton said, wiping them off his cheek and flinging his three fingers. "But do ya gotta sray'em all over tha place?"
"See! I'm not the only one, Mommy!" Alli pouted, drying her arms.
Denim took a deep breath, and looked at Phoenix. "The truth is, I can handle the rabbit. Mikey and I have been through much worse than Miss Cottontail out there. It just might not be the most polite thing you'll ever see me do." Denim reached out to stop Allison from pulling out all the paper towels then motioned behind Phoenix where the boys were turning the faucets on full blast and splashing each other. She let out an exhausted laugh. "There's never a dull moment in your family is there?"
TSOTC
"Dull? Oh no! Never." She laughed. It had been so long since that had been pointed out to her, she wouldn't have thought of it on her own. But then, how could her life ever be dull? She was married to a rat ninja master, all of her children, adopted, step, and in-law, were all only part human, six of them were ninjas, one of them might as well be, and the other three didn't need to be, they were large enough to simply sit on their enemy and squish them. No, dull, her life was not.
"But you get used to it," she assured. "Then when things are normal, that seems dull. I think if I was confronted with real dull, I wouldn't know what to do."
A knock sounded on the women's door, and Phoenix's eyebrows came together in worry. "We haven't ruined the restroom, I promise Murakami-san!"
TSOTCTSOTC
Mikey hovered over the door, caught in uncharacteristic indecision, long enough that it was probably starting to get creepy. Then he jumped and spun as a gentle hand came down on his shoulder. With a yelp, he launched a reflexive blade hand strike that was deftly caught and redirected by his father. Thank goodness.
Now that his brain had caught up, he couldn't envision a single scenario in which that reaction would have ended well, even with his boundless imagination allowing him to account for the impromptu presence of break dancing, alien robots, showing up to do the robot dance...he was getting off track again.
"What is the problem, my son?" As always, his father's calm voice melted away his agitation.
"Tonight was supposed to be perfect. I had everything all planned out and now..." He pouted, trying to come up with the right words to express the utter suckitude that was now the current state of affairs.
His father's brows rose. "Ah, I see. There is nothing wrong with making plans, but sometimes, unexpected deviations from those plans can come with great blessings. I had not planned on becoming a mutant rat when I purchased my baby turtles all those years ago, but the loss of my plans became the greatest thing that could have happened to me, for it gave me you and your brothers."
Mikey managed a smile at his father's attempt at comfort. "Yeah, but what about when plans go wrong and all you get is a ruined evening?"
His father raised an eyebrow. "In adversity, there is often opportunity."
Oh no. His dad was talking in code again. He had hella-respect for his father's wisdom, but sometimes wished his dad could just talk straight. Not even Donnie or Leo could consistently decode him when he was being cryptic. And Mikey needed to know what to do right now.
Splinter sighed and gestured to the door. "Just talk to her."
He grinned. "Thanks, Sensei."
Taking a deep breath, he held up a hand and knocked. His mother's voice called out in answer. "We haven't ruined the restroom, I promise Murakami-san!"
Splinter sighed and shook his head as Mikey chuckled nervously. "Uh, it's Mikey actually. Is Denim in there with you?"
TSOTCTSOTC
Denim hoped Phoenix wouldn't think any less of her when she tried to sweep this whole thing off, rather than dive into why Cottontail bothered her. But she wasn't about to make a big scene. It was bad enough she'd tried to escape to the bathroom. Maybe it was good that she hadn't tried to bail completely and gone for the front door. It would've been ten times the embarrassing disruption. She sighed. Why was everything about her life always so damn complicated?
Well, there were two someone's who definitely made whatever was happening a little easier. One was tugging on her shirt, and the other knocking on the bathroom door. Her heart warmed. Even his mother had come to check on her. Her.
Denim looked at Phoenix and smiled. She wasn't sure what being a part of a family was like and certainly not one so big, but Mikey's mom had more warmth to her than her mother-in-law Connie ever had, and that was a comfort she'd always wanted. She sucked in a breath. Don't get used to it. It never lasts. They never stay. No one ever stays. A lump rose in her throat. But she could certainly pretend it was real. She'd done that many a time. Make it good while it lasts. "Thank you for caring, Phoenix."
She turned, opened the door and Mikey almost fell in on her. "Geez, sweetie, were you leaning on it?"
TSOTCTSOTC
Phoenix ushered the three little ones out, picking up Alli, in a very public display that she was coming with her. Returning to the table, she put the girl on the table, out of habit, and then muttered something in French. "No sitting on the table at a restaurant," she said, picking the girl back up and looking at her son, as he scrambled up a leg. The pup immediately went to Leo's lap, his older brother accommodating him with no complaint at all. Antonello climbed into his chair beside his mother, and Phoenix sat with Alli still in her arms.
"Is he OK?" she asked no one in particular, looking over at the women's bathroom where Mikey and Denim were standing.
The corner of Zoe's mouth quirked up into the start of a mischievous smile. "Mikey just had a moment of clarity when the white rabbit tried sneaking him her number. The look on her face was priceless when she found out that he wasn't following her down the rabbit hole to wonderland."
Leo and Donnie had been unfortunate enough to be sipping their waters at that moment. Leo spit his out, trying and failing to get most of it back into the glass. Donnie choked on his and April started smacking his shell to get him through the coughing fit.
Karai snickered and Medusa hissed out a laugh. Arcos attempted to smother his chuckling while Raph and Aries didn't bother reining in their amusement. The children looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what was so funny.
"Zoe!" April whispered.
Zoe responded with mock innocence. "I just made a Lewis Carroll reference. I don't know what the rest of you are thinking."
Splinter cleared his throat and the table fell quiet. He glanced at Mikey and Denim, then smiled at Phoenix. "I believe they will be just fine."
TSOTCTSOTC
Mikey fell on Denim, reached out and grabbed her arms, stumbling into the women's room but managing to right them both before a complete topple. He stepped back, his blue eyes darting over her as if checking for injury. The lines at the corners of those beautiful gems, and the set of his mouth, told her he was upset. She only hoped it wasn't with her. They backed out of the women's room into the hall.
"Are you okay?" they asked unison.
His features softened.
She smiled.
Then they did it again. "I'm okay, how about you?"
He chuckled.
She giggled.
He rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, want to talk about it?"
She could be having the worst day, and he'd send a joke at just the right time. It could be something small bothering her, like a nasty customer at work, Alli throwing a tantrum, or even a less than perfect family dinner. It didn't matter he could still make her laugh through it.
Often it was something bigger, something ongoing that would be with them for as long as they were together; like flirting mutants who would have their say to her, or reluctant mother-in-laws trying to accept that she was moving on; even the way they met was the result of humans being nasty and intolerant.
These and many more interferences were part of their relationship. And she could handle it. He was hands down worth it. He could distract her from anything, even sometimes when he shouldn't and they should just face whatever it was head on. Regardless, he always reminded her that he was going through it with her and that they'd be okay no matter what. But when she was stressed about anything extra, like trying to figure out her place at the family dinner table, she found it difficult to deal with the crap she should be used to.
"You're not okay, Blue Jeans." He reached out, stroked her arm. "Is this about that server? Cas' I handled that."
Her eyes shot to his. "What?"
He shrugged. "I told her to hop off." He grinned. "Get it, hop off?"
She blinked and his smile faded.
He wasn't supposed to ever notice them, he never had before. This was something she just took care of. They'd flirt, he was oblivious, she'd excuse herself, they followed her, told her what they really thought and sometimes she punched them in their nose. Other times, on a bad day, she just took it.
"Blue Jeans?" He took her hand, gave it a squeeze.
"Uh, you know what, I'm fine." She shook her head as if brushing the whole thing off and gave him a big smile, one she hoped convinced him everything was okay. "The rabbit is no big deal. I was just a little overwhelmed. You know with Alli climbing into your sister's mouth and all."
He flashed her a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that," his eye ridges lifted, "she won't actually-"
"I know," she interrupted, "Phoenix assured me. Your Mom is really nice, Mikey."
His smile widened and his eyes lit up the way she loved. "I know, she's great right?"
Denim nodded. "Yeah, now let's go eat, I'm starving."
