CHAPTER 6: GUYS NIGHT OUT

Raph and Casey blow off some steam.

Casey headed to the industrial district, which was generally barren at night, finally feeling like he was getting the hang of his new form. He was skating at an easy pace, testing turns and stops and jumping the occasional debris that inevitably littered the alleys between warehouses. Raphael jogged beside him to steady him now and then, and at one point to flat out catch his arm when he took a turn too sharply and lost his balance. But that had been a while ago and he was feeling much more confident and in control.

Casey turned, skating backwards for a moment, grinning mischievously. "Race you to the junkyard." Before Raphael could respond, Casey turned around and sped off into the dark.

"Oh no you don't!" Raphael pulled his skateboard off of his back and jumped on it without slowing his run. The wind whipped the tails of his red mask behind him as he sped through a truck lane-way, catching up to Casey.

Raphael snorted with amusement when Casey looked back at him and flipped him off with a gloved hand. Nothing like some friendly competition. Then Casey tucked low, taking the rest of the lane at breakneck speed as he increased his lead again.

Casey laughed as he pulled his mask down over his face, thrilled that he had found something he was better at in this body than his own. He was lighter, more agile, and fast. He felt free and happy for the first time since this whole mess had started. At that moment, everything felt right with the world. Here he was, geared up, flying through the night, and giving Raphael a hard time. It was perfection.

The end of the truck lane was littered with stacks of wooden skids. Undaunted, Casey crouched low and sprung up on top of them, his momentum giving him the height he needed to skim across the top and down into a parking lot. Raphael landed hard next to him, having gotten more air over the skids, and pulled ahead.

Casey took in the sight of Raphael's devilish smile and huge, sculpted arm as he passed him and returned the lewd hand gesture. That had always made Casey laugh, since the turtles only had three fingers anyway, and it didn't have quite the same effect.

He allowed himself an appreciative glance at the way Raphael's muscles flexed and tensed as he rode the board, somehow graceful even though he was built like a tank. Then Raphael popped up and over a barrier, causing sparks to fly as his board slid down the metal railing of a small concrete staircase.

Time to pay attention. Casey jumped the small barrier easily and then leapt again, avoiding all four steps and landing with a jolt. He almost lost his balance but managed to catch himself and whooped into the night. The chain link fence that marked their finish line was in view and he redoubled his efforts to catch up.

Raphael peeked over his shoulder to make sure Casey had made it past the stairs without incident. He was gaining on him, red hair flying all around the skeletal mask frenetically. The fence came closer and Raphael didn't bother to slow down. They never did. He took the crash on his shell, squeaking the metal links and buckling the fence in slightly before it sprung him forward. He landed victoriously in a crouch just as Casey took the fence with his shoulder. He bounced off it clumsily and Raphael caught him before he hit the pavement.

Casey righted himself and pulled the mask off completely in excitement. "That was freakin' awesome!"

"You almost caught me this time, but almost doesn't win the the race," Raphael gloated. He tried not to notice the way Casey's chest was heaving and flushed, snapping his eyes up to meet Casey's gaze instead. The way his eyes glittered and his huge smile lit up his face didn't help Raphael's plight at all. He grinned dumbly, thrilled that he had made Casey so happy.

Casey tucked the spikes and wheels back into his boots and started to climb the fence to the junkyard. "Man, April should learn to skate and do roller derby or something," he said. "She's a speed demon and she doesn't even know it."

Raphael laughed. "Roller derby April? I don't see that happening. She's a bit more subtle than your crazy ass."

Casey got to the top and looked back pointedly. "I don't see you complaining about it."

Raphael blushed when he realized Casey was referring to his barely covered butt hovering indecently six feet in the air. Then he swung over and dropped down to the opposite side. Raphael was still trying to make his brain work enough to come up with a clever remark when he heard Casey laugh at him.

"Lighten up, Raph, I was just joking."

Raphael quickly joined Casey on the other side. "Round of junkyard skeet shoot?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh yeah!"

Casey put his mask back on and dropped a bunch of hockey pucks into a line while Raphael went off to search for stuff that would be fun to break, returning shortly after with an armful of junk. Casey took a few test swings with his hockey stick, then lined up with the first puck.

"Pull!"

His first two slap shots missed their targets. The next three breakable bits of rubbish that Raphael whipped into the air for him exploded into a shower of glass and ceramic as his pucks rocketed through them. Casey huffed.

"Hey, three out of five is still pretty good, considering," Raphael offered. "Who else could even get one of those?"

Casey pushed the mask up and grinned. "No one."

"Exactly."

"I think I'm ready to join you guys on your next fight, if you need help. Or ya know, patrol sometime like we used to. It's been a while." Casey cursed April's pale skin as he felt a blush crawl over his face. He pulled the mask back down to hide it and swatted a puck into a tin garbage can, knocking it over. It had never felt this weird to ask Raphael to hang out before.

"I don't know. I've had to save your tail enough times against the Kraang. And Slash. And Newtralizer." Raphael started to grin as he continued to tease him. "And exploding buildings. Falling concrete. The psycho cat that one time."

They both broke out into a laugh over that one. "I saved all of you from the Kraang with my signature move. Busted that war machine right up."

"True," Raphael admitted.

"Even though you were being an impossible asshole to me and told me to take a permanent hike."

"True. I also apologized for that, so really, you should feel honored."

Casey scoffed. "It's alright, once I calmed down I realized that was your messed up way of saying you didn't want me to die. That you actually cared."

"Of course I care, dumbass," he replied, exasperated.

"Your family is great, so I guess it's easier for you to take as a given. My mom ditched us and my dad couldn't care less about me unless he needs a punching bag."

Raphael was at a loss for words. He wasn't good at comfort. "Geez Casey, three days as a girl and you are all 'Let's talk about our feelings.' You want me to braid your hair next?" he joked.

Casey's expression was unreadable through his mask, but Raphael was fairly certain that hadn't been the right thing to say.

"Fight me," Casey demanded.

"Are you insane?"

"I don't want to be benched for no good reason. If I beat you I don't want to hear one more word about it."

Raphael chuffed, trying not to laugh. "Need I remind you of our last bet?"

Casey lunged a split second later, jabbing the butt end of his hockey stick into Raphael's upper plastron. Raphael stumbled back, surprised.

"It's different this time," Casey said in a low voice. He was skating again, slowly circling behind Raphael.

"Fine, you're on," Raphael growled.

Casey picked up speed, circling faster and darting in with short, sharp strikes to Raphael's arms and legs. They stung just enough to piss him off but the tactic was predictable. On his next pass, Raphael ducked low and used his leg to sweep Casey's and send him into a tumble. He was back up a second later, dodging to the left away from Raphael's pounce. Committed to the momentum of his tackle, Raphael rolled along the dirt ground and spun back around without missing a beat. A hockey stick swung towards him and he automatically went on the defense with his sais, first blocking, then catching the stick in an awkward vertical clinch.

They struggled as Casey tried to pull back, but he couldn't put his weight into it because of the wheels on his boots. The wooden hockey stick creaked under the pressure of Raphael's sais, which had been perfectly designed hundreds of years ago to trap and break samurai swords. Raphael shouldered Casey roughly, twisting the stick out of his grip and sending it skittering across the dump.

Casey almost fell back again, but managed to snap the wheels back into his boots in time to plant himself and defend Raphael's advance with a firm elbow across his jaw.

Raphael grunted, and Casey, quick little bastard that he was, had somehow gotten behind him. Raphael wasn't sure if it was the mask, the familiar spiked costume, or the fact that Casey had managed to strike him across the top back of his shell so hard that splinters of baseball bat flew past his cheeks, but the barrier in his mind crashed down. It was just him and Casey getting into some extra rough sparring as he turned on instinct to deliver an open handed strike directly to Casey's chest.

It was only then, when he felt the twin cushions of April's breasts beneath his hand, that he realized his mistake. His hand was almost the size of her entire torso. The impact sent Casey flying and he sprawled onto his back.

Shit shit shit, Raphael chanted in his head helpfully. Casey was gasping for breath, and Raphael knelt beside him, gently removing the mask. Oh man if I broke her ribs the guys are gonna kill me, and I might just let them, he thought frantically.

"Are you okay?"

The pained expression on April's face as Casey caught his breath made guilt crash through Raphael.

Casey's breathing evened out and he managed a lopsided smile. "It's not over, you just knocked the wind outta me."

"Are you kidding me?" Raphael took a sai and planted it next to his throat in the dirt. "There, it's over. I win."

"Are you sure?" he asked, gesturing with his eyes to look down.

Raphael's eyes followed Casey's glance to where he had pressed his homemade taser against the middle of his plastron. "I still win," he insisted. "If I had hit you full force you'd be a puddle."

Casey's smile widened smugly. "I didn't have to miss the back of your head with my bat."

"You absolute asshole," Raphael conceded in disbelief.

Raphael helped him to his feet, and Casey, no longer as cocky as he had been laying down, clung to him unsteadily.

"I think I'm gonna need a lift back to April's place. You really knocked the wind outta my sails."

"Shit, did I break a rib?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I know what that feels like."

Raphael rolled his eyes and hunted down Casey's hockey stick. Then he knelt down on one knee and let Casey clamber up onto the back of his shell. Arms and legs circled around neck and shell securely. He kept to even surfaces to prevent extra jostling to his friend and skateboarded towards April's house.

Being as late as it was, most of the houses were dark on the residential sidestreet, and no pedestrians were out to hassle them. Raphael skated at a steady pace and tried to keep his mind blank. Casey had needed 'a lift' home before, and it had been no big deal. The guy was a brawler and gave his all in a real fight. Sometimes there was nothing left in the tank after, once the adrenaline dulled and the reality of the hits he'd taken sunk in.

But something felt different; somehow Casey being female was doing things to his head. Things he didn't want to think about. So he wouldn't. He was doing a really good job of it, too, until he started feeling feather-light touches along the back of his neck and shoulders. He suppressed a shiver as soft fingertips repeatedly dipped down between his shoulders where skin and shell met. He wanted to yell back at him and ask what the hell he was doing, but didn't trust himself to form proper words. Then Casey leaned over to press his lips close to Raphael's ear, and he almost sent both of them careening off his board.

"You owe me a new bat," Casey said.

It was then that Raphael realized what Casey had been doing. He'd been removing the little shards of baseball bat that he had been showered with when Casey cracked the damn thing over his shell.

"Like hell I do," Raphael grumbled through clenched teeth.

He was sorely tempted to just dump him off on the O'Neil's plush lawn without slowing his board down. He might even speed up.