Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Much to Michelangelo's annoyance, traffic was heavy and wasn't showing any signs of letting up. Leaving him to drum his fingers against the steering wheel and try his best to wait patiently for the train of cars ahead of him to start slowly moving forward again. "Super sorry about this, miss." He said to his passenger as he glanced over his shoulder to gage her mood. "This is going to take a while to clear up, it's going to be a bit of a wait until I can maneuver us off this route and hopefully onto a quicker one for you."
"Don't worry about it, I'm not in a rush." The young woman informed him as she watched the people passing by on the sidewalk next to them. She ran her fingers through her dark blue-dyed hair absentmindedly, and tapped her other hand on her knee to a beat only she could hear. "Gives me time to muse, which is cool."
"The delay's going to affect your fare." He pointed out delicately. "If I had things my way, it wouldn't. But I don't make the rules. I'd probably be broke if I did!"
She laughed at that, looking away from the distractions outside to meet his eyes. "You did strike me as a bit of a softie." Giving him a quick once over, she leaned forward in her seat and reached a hand through the open window separating the back of the cab from the front. "Name's Sara, what about you?"
"Michelangelo," he supplied eagerly as he accepted her hand and gave it a gentle shake. "But everyone calls me Mikey."
"I like that, it's super unique. I've met a few Raphaels and Leonardos over the years, but no Michelangelos before. Are you into Ren art, or do you avoid it like the plague because of your namesake?"
"My dad named my brothers and I after those dudes, but I never really checked them out beyond the stuff they're famous for." The turtle admit to her sheepishly, looking back through the windshield to see if the traffic had started progressing forward again. He found himself surprisingly relieved to discover it hadn't moved an inch as he turned back to face his passenger. "I like what I've seen of their work though."
"Your old man really into art or something?"
"A little bit, yeah. He's not too bad at painting, actually."
"Nice."
A horn blared from behind their cab, snapping Michelangelo's attention back to the traffic ahead of them again. The jam was clearing up, and cars were moving forward once more. "Alright, here we go! Hopefully, I can get you to Queens without any further issues!"
"Like I said, cutie," Sara reminded him with a whisper of amusement in her voice, "there's no rush."
Blushing, unaccustomed to being flirt with, he smiled at her in the rearview mirror. Continuing the drive to her requested destination. "So, are you visiting friends?" He asked, referencing the backpack, sleeping bag, and duffle bag she had piled on the seat next to her.
"Oh," she glanced over at her things. "Yeah, I told my friend in Queens I'd be passing through NYC and she insisted I crash with her while I was here. Plus, I get to see her cute kits again!"
"Aw! How many cats does she have?"
"Two, they're from the same litter and they're such adorable little fur babies. If I wasn't on the road all the time, I would totally have a couple of my own."
"You travel for work?" Michelangelo asked, feeling a little envious of how worldly this woman seemed to be. He always wanted to travel. The road trips the Mighty Mutanimals invited him on were nice, but were limited to the same stomping grounds for the struggling band. He wished he could see more of the world beyond those routes.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." She replied as she glanced out the window again at the buildings and people they were passing by. "I love wandering from place to place, so I don't really have a steady job. I couch surf my way around the country, settle down long enough to get a job and save up cash again, and then move on when I get bored and feel I've got enough money to get away with it for a while."
"That's really rad, sometimes I wish I could just uproot and take off wherever the wind may take me like that."
"So, why don't you?"
He flicked his turn signal, and quickly yet cautiously glided his car into the right-hand lane to make his turn. Thinking of Splinter, Karai, and all of his friends in the city. "I have too many connections here to just take off and wander like that. But maybe on some future vacation I'll just take a road trip for fun. If I can drive in NYC, I can drive anywhere."
"Try figuring how the heck to navigate in Boston, and then get back to me on that!"
They shared a laugh at that, and she regaled him with tales of woe from her attempts to drive around that city during her past visits. He took her word for it, and expressed his sympathies over her experiences. A comfortable moment of silence settled on the cab as he focused on the traffic ahead of them and she continued to admire the scenery outside her window.
"I've been bouncing around from place to place since high school." She told him quietly, as she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and turned her gaze over to her bags again. "I couldn't wait to hit the road after I got myself a car of my own. It was a cheap piece of junk that I shouldn't have wasted my money on, and wouldn't have if I had been more patient and done my research, but I was so hell-bent on getting out of that boring little town that I didn't completely think things through. In hindsight, I really wish I had waited a couple more years and saved up more for a better car! The one I bought back then was a money pit, and it finally crapped out on me for good a few months ago. So I've had to rely on train and bus routes to get around. I don't mind doing that once in a while, and I guess it may be cheaper depending on how you look at it…but I really miss driving around. Ya know? Driving down those old back roads, just to see where you turn up, is nice."
It did sound nice. "Are you crashing with this friend in Queens long enough to save up for a new car?"
"That would take a lot of time. My friends are happy to have me stay with them for a few weeks once in a while, but I feel like I'd be overstaying my welcome in that situation." She sighed in exasperation. "I might have to bite the bullet and go back home to my folks." She locked eyes with him in the rearview mirror, and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Love them dearly, but mom'll be driving me crazy in no time! It doesn't matter to her that I'm five years' shy of being thirty, or that I can handle myself just fine; she'll still treat me like a little kid after an hour in the same room together."
Michelangelo nodded his head sympathetically, remembering all too well how frustrating it felt to be talked down to like that by his brothers. He came to a stop at the next set of lights. "She's such a nice, rad chick. Wish there was something I could do to help her out." And then, an answer presented itself to him. "You could crash at my place if you need a place to stay until you can get your stuff straightened out." He found himself offering without hesitation. "I still live with my dad, but we've got plenty of room and I don't think he'd mind."
She cast him a hesitant look, "you live with your dad?"
"Well, yeah." He noticed the idea seemed very unappealing to her, and wondered why. He just wasn't ready to move out yet, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to, and Splinter wasn't pressuring him to leave either. If anything, he felt his father wanted him to stay in the Lair. "Dad's a mutant too, a rat by the way, and it kinda spooks him, I think, to go topside for too long. He could take care of himself without me there, but we're both content with how things are. Plus, I don't have to worry about rent or anything like that, so it's a pretty sweet deal!"
"That does sound like a sweet deal," Sara agreed. Remembering how envious she used to be of her cousins when her uncle had converted the upstairs of his old barn-turned-garage into a couple of apartments for them to live cheaply in. "My mom probably would have loved it if I lived with her and dad forever…I just don't have the patience for it! I'm glad you have such a good working relationship with your dad that you don't drive each other crazy."
"I understand if the idea still kinda wigs you out," Michelangelo replied with a chuckle. "We are total strangers. But at least let me help you get a decent job while you're here. It would make saving up money easier than working at a fast food joint."
The light turned green, so he let her take a moment to go over his offer while he continued on their route to her friend's place. A few minutes later he was pulling the cab up to the curb in front of a brownstone apartment building.
Sara rummaged through the contents of her purse, ripped a piece of paper out of a tiny notebook she had crammed inside it, and scribbled something down on it. Leaning forward again, she reached through the divider window to hand him the rumbled paper. "Here's my number, what's yours?" She handed him her pen to write with, and another fragment of paper. Happily accepting both back after he wrote down his contact information. "I'll give you a buzz later, okay?"
"Yeah, sure!"
He accepted her money, handed her back her change, and watched her collect her things and make her way towards the old brick building. Smiling when she glanced over her shoulder to grin and wave goodbye to him. He waited for her to go inside before shifting the stick and flicking his blinker on to pull away from the curb again. Gliding back out into the lighter traffic, and making his way back to Manhattan with an eye grazing the sidewalks for any potential new customers.
He turned on the cab's radio, and hummed along to the song playing. He picked up a few more customers in the hours that passed after that before he felt his cellphone buzz against his leg in his jeans. Grinning, a wave of happiness washed over him knowing he had just made a new friend.
After his shift ended, Michelangelo made a pit stop at the local flower shop and picked up a couple of bouquets. Then, carefully holding the vases close without damaging the arrangements, he sprinted up the nearest fire escape to make the trek to his sister's apartment building. Popping back down to the street when he arrived, and giving the doorman a chipper hello as he passed the snake mutant and walked inside.
"Oh, those are stunning!" Karai exclaimed when she opened the door to greet him. "Thank you, you got our favorites! You didn't have to do that!"
"It's your first-year anniversary, of course I was going to get you a little present!"
"Well, come on it and relax for a bit," she encouraged him as she accepted the flowers and brought them into the living room. "Hey babe, Mikey's here! He brought us some flowers; you're the expert, help me decide where to put them!"
Kitsune exited her office and beamed at the mutant. "Hey sweetie, how have you been?" Her eyes lit up when she saw the flowers. Gliding over, she touched them delicately as she bent her head down to immerse herself in their scents. "Oh, these are lovely." She studied them, glanced around the apartment, and then selected the vase with the roses. "These will do nicely on the dining room table. Karai, would you be a dear and put the lavender display in our room?"
Michelangelo admired how well the roses looked at the center of the table amongst the other decorative knick-knacks she had elegantly displayed on it. "You really have a great eye for this stuff."
"I know, right?" Kitsune laughed, walking over to the kitchen area to fetch a trio of stemware from the cabinet and a bottle of apricot white wine. "I love interior design, I'm so glad I get to make a living off of it!" After pouring each of them a glass, she handed one to her brother-in-law with a smile. "So, what's up with you these days?"
"Same old same old basically." He replied, accepting the glass and taking a sip. "Oh, that's really nice!" They wandered back into the living room area to join Karai, sitting down on the couches. "I've hit a road block on that fic I've been working on though."
"Which one? The Space Heroes one, or the Venture Bros one?" Karai asked with genuine interest as she accepted the glass from her wife.
"Space Heroes."
"Oh that's a shame. I love that story!" She took a generous sip from her glass, and then placed it on one of the coasters on the coffee table. "I think you've done a great job with making that crossover work. I'm surprised no one thought to do one between the two before now. I mean, everyone who's familiar with both shows knows that Space Heroes is a Star Trek parody. A crossover between the two is kinda begging to happen."
"Yeah, I was surprised too." Mikey replied, grinning from the praise and reflecting on how the idea had come to him. "Guess that was part of the reason why I started it. I mean, someone had to!" He took a moment to glance out the window and enjoy the view of Central Park. "So, do you lovely ladies have any special plans for tonight, seeing how it's your first anniversary being married?"
"We've both been so busy with work lately, that we didn't even realize the date was just around the corner until last night." Admit Karai as she shared a mildly embarrassed smile with Kitsune. "I've been hearing good things about that new fantasy movie, 'The Dragonriders Of Pern', so I thought that maybe we could check that out?"
"Oh man, have you read any of the books?" Mikey asked eagerly, becoming very excited. "They're great! So, I was pretty hyped up to hear they were finally doing a movie based on one of them. I saw it opening night, and it is really good! I know you'll love it!"
The discussion carried on with the topics of books and the movies based off of them. Ranging from some of the best ones the trio had encountered, to some of what each of them had deemed the worst. After a couple of hours had passed, the young mutant politely excused himself. He needed to get home to start making dinner, and the young wives needed to prepare for their anniversary date.
"Let me know what you think of the movie!" He cheerfully reminded the two women as he left their apartment. "Oh! And if you're not sure where you want to eat, then I highly recommend Murakami's. His granddaughter has the reigns now, and she totally revamped it. She doesn't use the same menu he had used, but her selection is excellent!"
"We'll keep that in mind!"
"Have a nice night, little brother!"
Michelangelo ventured back out onto the New York City streets. Opting to walk back home to enjoy the scenery and glance through shop windows instead of taking the rooftops, even though that route would have been quicker for him. He was halfway home when he felt his phone vibrate in his pants pocket, and pulled it out curiously. Eager to see who was texting or snapchatting him. He was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Sara, and grinned when he read what she had written. "Sweet!" He quickly sent his reply, and continued homeward. Reviewing in his head how he would present his proposal to his boss the next day.
Thursday July 1, 2021
"Nope."
"Aw, come on Louie! Why not?"
"'Cause I ain't looking for new cabbies right now."
"But she could really use a job, and I told her I could help her."
"Well then hit up someone else with your charity case, because I don't care. Aren't you buddy buddy with some restaurant owner who'd be willing to help?"
"Sara's not a cook, so any job they'd be willing to give her wouldn't pay her much." Michelangelo argued, trying desperately to beseech the soft side he knew Louie had buried beneath his mean-spirited surface. "She needs to save up for a good used car, not some junky thing that's going to die on her less than a year after she's bought it. She can save up quicker if she's a cabbie!"
"I know you're a big softie like Reiger, kid. But you're barking up the wrong tree." Louie chuckled, going back to the paperwork he had been working on. Although, if he were honest with himself, he was happy for the distraction the young mutant was giving him.
Michelangelo frowned. Scrambling to think of a way to win over his boss. He had made a promise to Sara, and he intended to keep it. It was time to pull out the big guns. "You owe me, dude."
The displeased grunt he got in response, as his boss froze mid-word on the line he was filling out, was promising. The man's beady little eyes shifted back and forth rapidly as he grumbled nonsense under his breath. He glanced up to meet Mikey's eyes, and frowned in a mixture of annoyance and defeat.
As much as Louie would have liked to deny it, he had told the young cabbie he owed him once. Remembering all too clearly the anxiety of the situation they found themselves in back then, the sight of Michelangelo's blood on the asphalt, and how seeing the mutant looking so close to death had kept him awake for a few nights afterward.
Feeling both grateful and guilty for the driver's interference that night, Louie had indeed told him that a favor was on the table for him. The gesture had been genuine, and he knew he really ought to honor it. "Fine."
"Sweet!" Michelangelo cheered, hopping in victory as he whipped out his cell phone to text the good news to his newest friend. "Thanks boss man!"
"You're supposed to be an innocent little ball of sunshine," Louie complained. Pointing a finger accusingly at his young driver, hoping to shame the turtle for forcing his hand like that. "Where did you learn to be manipulative?"
"From you."
More grumbles, grimaces, and shifting eyes played out on the short man's face as he realized that he had been pegged. For a flicker of a second, he grinned with pride that Mikey had picked up such skills from him. Then he noticed Mikey beaming at him, and slapped a frown back onto his face. "Don't get too excited just yet, kid. She ain't driving."
"But you just sai- "
"Ah, ah, ah! Shut your yapper, let me elaborate!" Louie barked, determined to make his terms clear. "We don't need any more drivers, so I ain't sticking another car on the road when I don't hafta. However- "he gestured at his messy desk and the overstuffed filing cabinets lining the walls of the room "-if your little booty call is really desperate for work then I guess I could use a secretary for a few weeks. How's that?"
"My what?" Michelangelo asked, confused by the term his boss had used to reference his friend. The smirk he got in response made him shake his head, he probably didn't want to know. "Ah, nevermind. Yeah! Sure, I don't see why not! A job's a job, right? I'll let her know!" He immediately went back to the text message he had started and finished it. Hitting the send button with a pleased smile on his face. "Thanks, man. I really appreciate it, and I know she will too."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever gets ya off my back!" Louie grumbled with a dismissive wave of his hand. Grimacing down at the paperwork, he wondered if he could get away with letting his new secretary fill out the tedious forms for him once she started the job. He looked back up at the turtle, and noticed the pure joy still radiating off of him as he stared at his phone in anticipation of the reply. "So, uh, how long have you known this girl anyway?"
"Since yesterday," Mikey replied, "she was one of my late afternoon customers."
"And she left such an impression on you, that you decided you just had to go to bat for her like that?"
"Well, yeah. She needed help, and I knew I should at least try to help her out if I could."
"Uh huh…" His boss mulled on that for a moment, entertained his earlier impression of the situation a little more, and decided that some caution may be necessary. "Look, what you do is your own business. But, uh, if you decide to get 'busy' with this chick, then would ya promise me to be careful about it?"
"Huh?"
"You know, if you do the horizontal mambo."
"Still not following you, dude."
Louie was befuddled, "I have to spell it out for ya?" He threw his arms up in the air dramatically, sitting up a little from his seat. "Be careful if you go and have sex with her, you dope! Mutant/Human relations are illegal. I'd hate to lose one of my best drivers because he got arrested for his inability to keep it in his pants."
"WHAT?!" Embarrassed, Michelangelo felt his face get hot as he scrambled to reclaim his ability to speak and deny what was being suggested. "It's not like that! At. All. She's just a friend, that's it. Besides, I'm not interested in sex."
"Everybody's interested in sex," argued Louie. Amused that he had managed to get the kid fumbling over himself in denial. "But like I said, it's none of my business. Just be careful if you decide to go swimming in bedsheets with her, okay?"
"Yeah, okay Louie."
Michelangelo's phone buzzed to notify him that a text had arrived. Sara was definitely happy to hear he had secured a job for her. He texted back a quick 'no problmemo' with a happy face, and then scooted out of Louie's office with another quick thank you over his shoulder. Eager to remove himself from the amusement radiating off of his boss, and get back down to the Cage to get the keys for the cab he'd be driving that day.
As he made his way to the cabs after retrieving his keys, he found himself grinning. He made a new friend, and was able to help her out when she really needed it. As far as he was concerned, it was worth the teasing from his boss.
He couldn't wait to work with her.
It had been a long and tiring day. And yet, Michelangelo found himself lying in his bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling thinking of nothing in particular. Trying and failing to fall asleep, while the clock on the shelf above his bed showcased the late hour a little brighter. As if it were mocking him.
He tossed and turned in his bed for a few more minutes before finally giving up hope on falling asleep anytime soon. He debated over whether or not he should read a book until he got tired, but then settled on working on his fanfic instead. Perhaps his sleep-seeking mind would produce a solution to the writer's block he had encountered during his current chapter. He had quite a few bursts of brilliant creativity come to him in the past during bouts of insomnia like this, and even if he came up with nothing he knew his eyes would have to droop sleepily sooner or later once he set his mind to the distracting task.
He slid out of bed, and crossed the room to the small desk he had acquired a few years earlier at an antique store. Opening it up, he pulled out his small second-hand laptop. Then he exited his room, walking quietly through the Lair in an attempt to leave his father undisturbed in his sleep, and went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water and set himself up at the table. A few minutes passed, and then the soft sound of fingertips speedily typing floated in the air.
All it took was a flickering thought about Sara to spark an idea for him on how he could get the plot going again. Taking a different approach on how the characters would get themselves out of the dilemma he had placed them in, he was delighted to find that everything was clicking back into place once more. The story was moving forward again, like a traffic jam finally clearing up on the page.
He worked contently that way for a few hours before sleep finally came to claim him, and was quite pleased with his work when he finally stopped. He had resolved the issue he was having with the chapter, and it ended up being longer than he had anticipated! He would have to review it again after getting some sleep, check for typos and make sure it was flowing as well as he felt it was in that very moment, but he was confident it would be ready to post online by noontime.
"Insomnia has its perks…" He mumbled sleepily to himself has he shuffled his way back to his bedroom. Depositing the laptop back in the desk, and flopping himself onto his bed.
He buried himself under the sheets, and let sleep claim him.
For the record, Sara's not an OC. None of the supporting cast in this fic are. If they don't exist in some version of TMNT, then they're from another series altogether (Alex and Louie are from the 70's sitcom "Taxi". Vincent and Jacob, along with the mentioned-yet-remains-off-screen Mouse and Father, are all from the 80's drama "Beauty and the Beast").
The only OC featured so far was Kitsune and Karai's friend from their Halloween party a few chapters back, and I most likely won't be using him again.
Sara was actually meant to appear a few chapters down the road from now, but then I found myself writing her into the scrapped version of this chapter. I'm glad she snuck her way into that earlier draft because this actually works so much better than what I originally envisioned for her first appearance.
That's part of the fun about writing, sometimes things go exactly as you originally planned, and sometimes the story gets a mind of its own and takes the wheel for a while on you!
Anyway, I hope everyone's enjoying the fic! Thank you for reading!
Since I tend to take a while to update, I'd love to recommend a fantastic Mikey-focused series of fics you could read in the meantime! If you haven't already, please check out BrightLotusMoon's "Cold Fire Rising" series, they are well worth the read!