Author's Note: This chapter will be from the POV of Raph and Donnie. Raph's personality is more or less the same as his other incarnations (minus Rise), while Donnie's personality has been altered slightly. Apriltello and Rasey will be on full display, so I better not see any overly toxic fans swarming this chapter. Enjoy.
Raph's POV
May 11, 2013
"FUCK!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I lost another round of Mortal Kombat: Deception to Mr. Perfection himself, Leo. I lost the fight in the most bullshit way possible too, by getting kicked into a freaking death-trap. When the hell did Leo get so good at video games anyway?
"I told you this game was unpredictable, but you didn't want to listen." Leo said with a stupid, smug grin on his face. God, I wanted to smack him.
"Shut up, Fearless. At least, I'm not playing as a Shredder knock-off." I said.
"It's not like I made the decision to turn Sub-Zero into the Shredder. I'm more surprised Shredhead never sued Midway for copyright." said Leo.
We played another round until I lost again. At that point, I was done. I threw the controller down on the beanbag and walked to my room.
"Come on, Raph! Don't be a sore loser!" Leo said, but I ignored him.
I entered my room, closed the door, and sat on my bed. God, Leo was seriously getting on my nerves. I don't know what happened to Leo but I don't like it at all. He's transformed from dork to douchebag. And it came completely out of left field. It was like a switch flip or something.
Even worse, he's been treating Sensei like complete garbage recently. Now look, I've never been a big fan of every decision Sensei has made. Not naming me leader ranks #1 on "Sensei's Bad Decision Making" list. Still, I've never openly insulted Sensei to his face because I know he would drop my ass real quick. But Leo? He recently called Sensei a gesuyarou, which the Japanese word for "asshole".
Yes, you heard me right. Leo, the Boy Scout. The one who never wanted to get trouble. The one who kissed Sensei's ass relentlessly. That Leo called Sensei an asshole. It's like I woke up in a whole another dimension where Leo is a worse version of me.
Not only that, Mikey's been acting really weird too. Now, Mikey has always been a weirdo. That's not me being a jerk, that's me stating a fact. But in the past few weeks, it's…it's like I don't even recognize him anymore. He's been eating healthy food, he cleaned his room, he's been focusing super hard on training, and he's even kicked my ass in sparing matches. NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY FUCKING SENSE! Did the real Mikey get kidnapped by the Kraang and they gave us a robot Mikey that acted nothing like the real Mikey?! It's probably farfetched but I wouldn't be surprised.
Anyway, while Leo and Mikey acted like the complete opposite of themselves, I've spent a lot of my time hanging out with Donnie and talking to Casey on the phone.
For the longest time, I thought Donnie was nothing but a geek who refused to fight. Always coming up with excuses to not hurt or fight anyone. All he wanted to do was focus on his toys and spew a bunch of technobabble at all of us, having a "I'm smart and you're dumb" type of attitude. It didn't help that his main weapon was a wooden stick, while the rest of us had far more useful weapons.
But after hearing what happened in his fight with that John Kasai asshole, I was impressed. More than impressed, actually. In fact, it made me change my view of Donnie. I didn't see him as a pussy anymore. I saw him as a legitimate badass. I started hanging out with him more and we developed some really strong chemistry with each other. My chemistry with Donnie was stronger than it ever was with Leo. We surprisingly had some of the same interests, including professional wrestling, which Leo and Mikey were indifferent to. Donnie liked the storytelling part of it, while I liked the athleticism. We had a blast watching WWE and it made us closer as brothers.
And then there's Casey.
Ever since we met, me and Casey have been the best of friends. "Two peas in a pod" as Mikey would say. We had similar attitudes, fighting styles, interests, senses of humor, you name it. Casey was the human counterpart I've always wanted. But then something changed. My feelings for him changed. They didn't turn negative or anything like that, but they became…deeper. The two of us had a "ride together, die together" type of friendship and we were cool with that. But I wanted our friendship to go a bit…further, you know?
(Sigh) You know what, I might as well rip off the band aid. I, Raphael Hamato, am gay. No, I didn't stutter. I'm gay. I like guys. I like dicks. How much more blatant could I possibly be? So not only am I a freak of nature, but I'm a gay freak of nature, because that clearly makes things so much better.
Now I know what you're thinking. Raph? Gay? This can't be! Raph is the most masculine of his brothers! He may be green, but he's no fruit! I thought the same thing for the longest time. I watched porn, read Playboy magazines, looked up pictures of girls in bikinis. I did EVERYTHING I could to convince myself I was straight. But for some god forsaken reason, Casey FUCKING Jones brought out the gay in me.
It took me months to come out to Casey. Every time I tried to tell Casey, some voice in my head told me to stop because if I told Casey, our friendship would die. This voice continued to haunt me until I finally told that voice to "FUCK OFF" and I decided I would do it. I would tell Casey that I was gay. I texted Casey to meet me on a rooftop and eventually we did just that. And let me tell you, it was the most stressful thing I've ever done. It made me wish that I was fighting the Shredder because at least I wouldn't have to worry about my best friend rejecting me. I remember the whole encounter like it was yesterday.
Flashback: January 18, 2013
"So Raph, what made you want to meet with the one and only Casey Jones?" asked Casey.
God, Casey had an ego of God-like proportions. He even talked in the third-person, like he was The Rock or something.
"Casey, there's…there's something I need to tell you." I said.
Casey knew he needed to get serious and said, "What's going on? Is it something with the family?"
"No, everything's fine back at the lair. It's specifically about me." I said.
"Okay, well, what is it?" asked Casey.
"Casey, I…I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm…I'm gay." I whispered the last part like I was ashamed of it.
"Can you repeat that because I couldn't hear you." said Casey.
"I'm gay." I said a little louder, but still not loud enough for Casey to hear.
"Dude, speak up. What's up with you? You've never acted this shy before. Whatever it is you got to say, just say it!" Casey said loudly.
Preparing myself for the worst, I closed my eyes tightly and yelled, "I'M GAY, OKAY!"
In that moment, I was legitimately terrified. I just told my best friend something I'd never told my family because I was afraid of ridicule and rejection. It's bad enough I'm a psychotic hothead, but to add the fact that I was into guys, made everything worse.
"And I love you, Casey." I said with a softer tone.
When I opened my eyes, I thought Casey would've run away, called me a slur, cut all ties with me, or anything of that nature. Instead, he looked at me with a look that wasn't out of hate or disgust. It was out of kindness and support.
"I've kept this to myself for months because I thought you would ditch me or call me a faggot or something." I said.
"What?! Dude, I would NEVER call you that! I wouldn't ditch you for anything. We ride together and die together, man. That will never change." said Casey.
"You sure?" I asked.
"100% sure, Raph. And I know this is a sloppy segue, but I've had feelings for you too." said Casey.
"Really? You? Casey Jones? I thought you were a ladies' man." I said.
"Yeah, I'm into both dudes and chicks. I'm bisexual, or bi, if you want to get technical." said Casey.
"Wow. I never knew that." I said.
"I didn't tell anyone about it until a few months ago, when I told my dad." said Casey.
"How did that go?" I asked.
"He was shocked but after a day or two, he told me he was cool with it and he would love me no matter what. As of this moment, you and my dad are the only people who know about this." said Casey.
"So far, you're the only person who knows I'm gay. I don't even want to imagine talking to Sensei or my brothers about this." I said.
"Why?" asked Casey.
"Why? Well for starters, my brothers would make jokes about me nonstop. I know we joke about each other all the time, but I don't know if I'm comfortable with them joking about me being gay. And Sensei, he's very traditional and I don't think he would react very well to one of his sons being a "homosexual"." I said.
"That's understandable. I think your brothers will take the news far better than your dad, but I think they'll all accept you for who you are. I mean, they're not bothered with being mutants, so why would they be bothered with you being gay?" said Casey.
"You got a point, but I'm not ready to talk to them yet. Maybe soon, but definitely not now. Especially, when we're dealing with Shredder and the Kraang." I said.
"True. So, you want to be a "thing"?" asked Casey.
"Hell yeah. You?" I replied.
"Hell yeah, man." said Casey.
The two of us hugged and we both went back home.
And that was that. Me and Casey were officially a couple. We mainly hung out at Casey's place because I knew if we hung out at the lair, my brothers, particularly Mikey, would stick their noses into our business. Because fuck privacy, am I right?
As a couple, me and Casey didn't have our first kiss until 2 weeks ago. We were playing Mortal Kombat 9 and after beating the story mode together, I got so hyped that I kissed Casey on the lips. The next few seconds that followed were the most horribly awkward seconds in history. We just stared at each other, while my face was red in embarrassment.
"Heh. Sorry about that, Casey. I guess I got a little too excited." I said with embarrassment on my face.
"Dude, you don't need to apologize. You want to do it again, properly this time?" asked Casey.
"Sure." I said.
We slowly got closer to each other and eventually our lips touched and it was the weirdest feeling I've ever heard. Never in my life did I ever think I would kiss someone on the lips. But here I was, kissing my best friend-turned-boyfriend.
After a while, we stopped and all I could say was, "Wow."
"I know. Great feeling, right? Although this isn't my first rodeo, it is the first time I've kissed a mutant, so that's an achievement." said Casey.
"Who else did you kiss?" I asked.
"I was in a relationship two years ago with a girl named Irma. She was one of April's friends. The furthest we got was the kissing stage and after that, it just didn't work out. I was busy with hockey, she was busy with journalism stuff, and we broke up." said Casey.
"Damn. That sucks." I said.
"Yeah, but I'm kind of glad it happened because if I never broke up with her, I never would've met you and your brothers." said Casey.
"True." I said.
After that, we played more video games, had a wrestling match, and had a make-out session on the couch. I ended up staying the night at his place, so me and Casey slept together in his bed. We didn't do anything dirty, if that's what you're thinking. Thankfully, Casey's dad left for work super early in the morning, so I was able to sneak out without any issues. Well, that's not entirely true because Casey's 7-year-old sister, Robyn, caught me leaving. I'm honestly surprised she didn't scream at the sight of me.
"Are you the guy Casey's been talking to?" she asked.
I knew I was busted and said, "Yeah, I'm the guy."
"So, are you his boyfriend?" she asked.
I sighed and said, "Yeah."
"Okay. Well, I'm glad that you've made my brother happy." she innocently said.
"No problem." I said before climbing out the window.
That was a few weeks ago and now we've been planning on how we're going to tell Casey's dad. Casey's dad already knew that his son was bisexual, but he had no idea his son was hanging out with mutants on a regular basis, not to mention being in a relationship with one. I pulled out my T-phone and we texted each other for a good 10 minutes on how we were going to pull this off and we both decided that we would do it tonight.
I got up off my bed and looked over to the box that used to be Spike's bed. Awful memories came flooding back. It tore me to shreds when Spike got mutated and attacked me and my family. I cried in my room for 3 days after the attack. Spike was my pet for 10 years and I loved him to death. And now he was gone. Life really wanted to fuck me over that day.
I felt tears running down my face as I thought about Spike. I grabbed my old childhood teddy bear, brought it close to my plastron, and hugged it tightly. I used my teddy bear whenever I had nightmares about scientists dissecting me or my family abandoning me because of my anger issues. That teddy bear prevented me from having some incredibly dark and potentially life-ending thoughts.
"Hey Raph, April's here!" yelled Mikey.
I quickly wiped away the tears from my face, put the teddy bear back on my bed, and left my room. I walked to the common area, where April was standing next to Donnie.
"Hi Raph!" said April.
"Hey April." I said with a dejected tone.
April quickly caught on to my tone and asked, "You okay? You don't sound like yourself."
"I'm fine. It's just that I was thinking about what happened to Spike, that's all." I said.
"Aww. It really sucks what happened to him. Hopefully, you can find him again." said April.
"Yeah, I hope so too." I said.
For the next few hours, April hung out with all of us, but I noticed that she was particularly close to Donnie. I always knew Donnie had intense feelings for April. He's had them since the second he saw April. But it looked like April shared those feelings too because while we were watching The Hunger Games, she asked Donnie if she could sit on his lap. Yeah, that actually happened. And of course, Donnie said "Yes", and she sat right on his lap. They were throwing popcorn into each other's mouths and I even saw them touch each other's hands at one point. That's not something friends do. But I didn't want to throw out accusations, so I stayed silent.
After the movie was over, I told everyone I was "going out" and no one tried to stop me. They were just like, "Okay, bye. Stay safe." So, I left the lair, found the nearest manhole cover, opened it, made my way to the surface, and went straight to Casey's place.
Once I got there, I tapped on the window outside Casey's bedroom and he let me in soon after.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" I asked.
"You stay in my room, while I go in the living room to talk to my dad. Once I give him enough information, I'll let you know when to come out. Got it?" said Casey.
"Got it." I said.
"Good because I don't want to screw this up." said Casey.
"Neither do I." I said.
"Okay, now stay here." Casey said before leaving his room.
To make sure I didn't mess up my cue, I walked right up to the door and opened it ever so slightly. That way I could watch and hear everything.
I watched Casey walk up to his dad, who was on a recliner drinking a beer, and I quietly said, "Okay, here goes everything."
"Uh, Dad?" asked Casey.
"Yeah, son?" replied Mr. Jones.
"There's something I need to tell you." said Casey.
"Okay. What do you want to tell me?" asked Mr. Jones.
"Um, you've heard about mutants, right?" asked Casey.
"Yeah, the guys at my job talk about them." said Mr. Jones.
"And you know there are these rumors of masked vigilantes fighting criminals and gang members?" asked Casey.
"Yeah. Why do you ask?" replied Mr. Jones.
"Well, I…might know these masked vigilantes and we've been fighting crime together." Casey said sheepishly.
"WHAT?! SINCE WHEN?" Mr. Jones said with anger and surprise.
"Since last October." said Casey.
Mr. Jones got up out of his recliner and said, "CASEY, YOU CAN'T HIDE SHIT LIKE THIS FROM ME! YOU CAN'T BE FIGHTING CRIMINALS! YOU'RE A TEENAGER!"
"I know but I've met these guys and they're so freaking cool. They're highly trained ninjas. And…I'm in a relationship with one of them." said Casey.
"WHAT?! YOU'RE IN ANOTHER RELATIONSHIP AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!" replied Mr. Jones.
"Dad, please, just calm down. I can explain everything, but you need to promise me to not go berserk. Okay?" said Casey.
Mr. Jones calmed down a bit and said, "Okay. I'll let you talk."
"Alright. RAPH! You can come out now." said Casey.
"This is it." I thought to myself before leaving Casey's room and walking right to the living room. When I revealed myself to Casey's dad, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack. He actually fell back down in his recliner and stared at me with disbelief.
"Dad, this is my boyfriend, Raphael Hamato. Raph, this is my dad." said Casey.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jones." I said before extending my hand to him.
Casey's dad nervously shook my hand and said, "So, you're a turtle?"
"A teenage mutant ninja turtle to be more precise." I replied.
"And you've known my son for how long?" asked Mr. Jones.
"Since October. We met by beating the crap out of each other. He had a large ego, I had anger issues, and neither of us were going down without a fight. After the fight, we respected each other and grew to like each other. I introduced him to my family, we spent time beating up criminal scum on the streets, and eventually, I had to tell Casey my true feelings about him. So, I told Casey I was gay, he told me he was bisexual, and right then and there, we became a thing." I said.
I then gave Casey's dad more context on what exactly we've been doing since October. You know, meeting April, fighting the Foot Clan, stopping alien threats, all that good stuff. After telling Casey's dad the whole story, the only thing he could do was put his hands on his head, trying to process everything he just heard. And I can't imagine it would be very easy to do so because it's a shit-ton of information.
After about a minute or so, Casey's dad stood up and simply said, "Casey, leave the room. I need to talk to Raphael. ALONE."
"But Dad…" said Casey.
"GO. NOW." Mr. Jones said with so much authority in his voice that it caused Casey to quickly hightail it out of the room.
Casey's dad then looked at me dead in the eye and said, "Look Raphael, I…"
"Raph. I prefer to go by Raph." I said, interrupting him.
"Look Raph, I don't know you. I don't know anything about this "war" you're fighting. I don't know anything about your family life, your issues, your hope and dreams, or anything like that. It's likely that anything I don't know, Casey knows. And from what I've heard, it's clear you two care deeply about each other. You'd give your lives for each other. But…it's just that…a few years ago, Casey's mother, my wife, died from cancer. It's been hard for Casey and especially hard for me. And because he's involved in all this chaos, I'm afraid that I'll lose him too and the very last thing I want is to lose one of my children." said Mr. Jones.
Casey never really told me about his homelife but hearing how Casey's mom died of cancer broke my heart. It seemed that a lack of a mother figure was an unfortunate trait that me, my brothers, Casey, and April all had.
"But after hearing about your battles, I know I can trust you to protect Casey. You'll protect each other in ways that I never could. So, I approve of your relationship with my son." said Mr. Jones as he smiled and extended his hand to me.
I had such a huge smile on my face when I shook his hand. Casey's dad would no longer be an issue. The only issue I had now was telling my family and I was not looking forward to that conversation.
"Thank you, Mr. Jones.
Just as I was about to leave, Casey's dad held my hand tightly and pulled me forward.
"But, if you do anything that hurts my son, physically or emotionally, I will deshell your ass and turn you into turtle soup. Understand?" Mr. Jones said in a threatening tone.
"Yes, sir." I said, trying to sound confident, even though I was somewhat terrified.
"Good." Mr. Jones said before letting go of my hand.
I left the room and found Casey in the kitchen.
"So, what did he say? Is he cool with us?" asked Casey.
"Yeah, he's cool with us." I said with a smile.
"Awesome!" Casey said before we embraced in a hug. It was one of the better days of my life.
Two Days Later
Me and Casey were in the lair, trying to whip each other's asses in WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain, until we heard April coming into the lair.
"Hey guys!" said April.
"Hey April!" everyone said in unison. Everyone except Donnie.
"Hi April." Donnie said with his signature nervous laugh, showcasing the gap in his teeth.
"Hi Donnie." April said, also with a nervous laugh. The way they looked at each other was so weird. I even saw the two of them blushing. I knew something was going on between those two.
Donnie and April quickly walked to Donnie's lab and I asked, "And where are you two lovebirds going?"
"One, we're not lovebirds. And two, we're going inside my lab, so I can help April study." said Donnie.
"Why can't you do it out here? Why does it have to be in your lab?" I asked.
"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe it's because YOU WON'T STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS." Donnie said with a very annoyed tone.
"Don't listen to him, Donnie. He just wants to get under your skin. We're going to be in Donnie's lab for a while. DON'T INTERRUPT US." April said before she and Donnie walked inside the lab and closed the door.
Me and Casey then looked at each other and I said, "You're thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah, man. Let's spy on them." said Casey.
The two of us stealthily made our way to the outside of Donnie's lab and opened the door ever so slightly. When we both took a peek inside, we couldn't believe what we were seeing.
Donnie was making out with April.
And their kissing wasn't the innocent type. It was the hot, passionate type of kissing. I think I even saw some tongue action.
We slowly closed the door and Casey had his hand over his mouth.
"Dude, I knew it. I had a feeling she was into Donnie." Casey whispered.
"Yeah, me too. We should probably keep quiet about this. I don't want to mess things up for them." I whispered.
"Good idea because they look pretty satisfied to me." Casey whispered.
It all seemed surreal. It hadn't even been a year since we went to the surface and it feels like we've all changed. I know change can be a good thing but…I had a feeling that things were about to get a lot more crazy. And not particularly in a good way.
Donnie's POV
June 22, 2013
I couldn't believe it. It was now the 6-month anniversary of my relationship with the girl I love, April O'Neil.
By all accounts of logic, none of this should've been possible. The chances of this happening would've been at least 1 in a trillion. The universe should've prevented this from ever existing at all.
But I proved the entire universe wrong.
I proved my brothers wrong, I proved my father wrong, I proved Casey wrong, I proved EVERYONE wrong about how a freak of nature like myself could never get the girl of his dreams.
And DAMN, did it feel good.
I remember the first time I met April. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. She and her father were about to get abducted by the Kraang until me and my brothers came in to save them…to the best of our, at the time, limited ability. When I caught her from falling over in the scuffle, she screamed, which made me scream in response. Keep in mind, this was our first time above the surface and we had ZERO experience when it came to interacting with humans. But after we stopped screaming, I saw a very scared look in her eyes and I knew I had to convince her I wasn't a threat. So, I put on my best "I'm not going to hurt you" face and told her, "It's okay". And for a brief second, she had this look on her face that said, "I think I trust this guy. Even if he is a turtle."
After that, a bunch of stuff went down and I don't feel like going through everything beat-by-beat, so I'll just give you the CliffsNotes version of what happened next. We failed miserably, she and her father got abducted, we fought more Kraang, we managed to save them and as a result, we earned their trust and they became our first human allies.
April hung out with us in the lair on a regular basis. She liked talking to my brothers and Sensei, but she REALLY preferred talking to me. After all, I was the first to meet her. It turned out she was smart. Like, REALLY smart. Just as smart as me, in fact. We would spend hours talking about scientific formulas, mathematics, physics, and all types of things. It felt great to talk to someone who actually knew what I was talking about.
Things didn't start getting serious between us until I asked her out on a date. Of course, I was a nervous wreck when it came to asking her out. I even made a whole chart plan about all the possible ways I could get April to hang out with me. In hindsight, it was incredibly creepy and if I was a human, I would get arrested on the spot, so I'm glad I never actually used it. Anyway, I called April and asked her if she wanted to go out with me. And when she said "Yes", my heart exploded out of happiness and excitement. Right after the phone call ended, I jumped up and down around my lab, like a kid on Christmas morning.
Unfortunately, a few hours after that, I had to deal with Kasai and…yeah, that wasn't a very good night for me or my family. On one hand, Kasai kicked all our asses and he broke some of my ribs with a steel pipe. Not to mention he gave April a broken tailbone. But on the other hand, I did make him bleed and I was closest out of anyone to take him down by using a triangle choke on him. So, I'm proud of myself for that.
April and I did have our date one week later, injuries and all. We met up on top of her apartment building, brought out some chairs, and sat down and talked. We were both taped up due to our injuries, so we were limited on what we could do. But we still had a nice evening together and things only spiraled from there.
Our first date led to the second. Then the third. Then the fourth. Then the fifth.
By the time we had our sixth date, it was right around Christmas, literally 3 days away. I wasn't able to find her a nice gift for many reasons (lack of money, living underground, being a mutant, having enemies, etc.), so I was nervous about what she would think. I didn't want to disappoint her, especially around Christmas.
But what ended up happening was better than I could've ever anticipated.
Flashback: December 22, 2012
I was on top of April's apartment building, waiting for April to show up. Our date was supposed to happen at 6pm and now it was 6:10 pm. Admittedly, I was a little annoyed, but I was still confident she would make it.
I was about to text her and ask her where she was and, lo and behold, she finally arrived on the rooftop, completely out of breath.
"Sorry about keeping you waiting, Donnie. My aunt kept bugging me about getting her a foot massager and she WOULD NOT SHUT UP." said April.
"It's okay, April. I can relate. Sensei can go on 5-minute lectures before we leave the lair." I said.
"That has to suck. Anyway, I brought you your Christmas present. I know it's 3 days early, but after everything we've been through the past few months, I really wanted to give it to you now." said April.
In her hands was a box, wrapped in Christmas themed wrapping paper. It was rectangular in shape, so I thought it was a book or something.
She handed me the box, I opened it, and in it was a tablet. Even better, the tablet had a turtle-like design to it.
"Wow, this is really nice, April. Thank you." I said.
"No problem, Donnie. I knew you would like it since you LOVE technology." said April.
At this moment, my smile turned upside down when I had to tell her I couldn't get her a gift.
"April, I…have something to tell you. (Sigh) I couldn't find you a gift for Christmas. And it sucks because I wanted to get you something so bad. I wanted to get you something that you would remember. Something that…" I said before April stopped me.
"Donnie, I understand." said April.
"You do?" I asked.
"Yeah, I mean, you live underground, you have little money, you have to deal with enemies on a daily basis. Not to mention that you can't simply walk into a store to buy something, unless you want to be on the nightly news. So, I totally get it and I'm not mad at you, if that's what you were about to ask." said April.
"Okay, well that's a relief." I said with all the worry I had quickly disappearing.
"But there is one Christmas wish I have that hasn't been fulfilled yet." said April.
"And what might that be?" I asked.
"Finding the perfect guy." said April.
It was like the Earth stopped moving for a few seconds. I simply couldn't believe what I was hearing. April O'Neil, the girl of my dreams, was basically implying that she wanted me to be her boyfriend. It was a dream come true. All the times I watched Beauty and the Beast when I was little, hoping against hope that the same thing would happen to be, had finally became reality.
"So, Donnie, do you want to be together?" asked April.
"More than anything in the whole wide world." I said.
In that moment, we kissed each other and it was the happiest moment of my life.
Ever since that glorious day, we've kept our relationship a secret from everyone. Well, everyone except April's father, Kirby. I guess he had some suspicions about the two of us having some type of relationship and on one random day, he caught us in the act. The whole thing was such an awkward mess that it made me want to retreat in my shell and die. Kirby yelled at us, we explained everything to him, April told him how much she loved me and without me they would probably be imprisoned by the Kraang, I told him that I would protect her from anything, and finally, Kirby accepted our relationship and allowed us to be together. But not before threatening me if I ever broke April's heart, so that made the moment slightly less sweet.
Whenever we were in the lair, April and I spent 90% of the time in my lab because I didn't want anyone barraging in, in case I was in the middle of doing something. We would spend upwards of 5 minutes making out, while I'm sitting in my desk chair. The rest of the time we just talked about personal stuff, potential threats, and other things.
Now, it was time to celebrate our 6-month anniversary together and unlike last time, I would get April a gift that she would never forget.
The two of us were on a random rooftop and we both had a can of Sprite in our hands.
"To 6 months of being together and surviving everything that has stood in our path." I said while we raised our cans of Sprite in the air.
"Cheers!" I said.
"Cheers!" said April before we clinked our sodas together and chugged them.
"So, you have any plans for this special day?" asked April.
"I do, actually." I said before pulling a small box out of a duffle bag I was carrying around my shoulder.
"I really wanted to give you this. Think of it as a makeup gift for last Christmas." I said.
I gave her the box and when she opened it, her eyes widened. The gift I got her was a custom-made necklace, with the pendant being a metallic purple turtle shell.
"It took me a while to find the right materials to make it so I was hoping you would at least like it." I said.
"Donnie, I…I LOVE IT." said April.
Right before I could say anything, she gave me an unexpected hug and kissed me right on my beak.
"You mind putting it on me?" asked April.
"No, not at all." I said.
I put the necklace on April and she asked me, "How does it look?"
"Perfect, just like you." I answered.
"Oh Donnie." April said before she suddenly turned her head and did a double take. It looked like she saw something…or someone.
"Is that Raph?" asked April.
I looked in her general direction and Raph was indeed near us, running across the rooftops and apparently having his own agenda.
"You know where he's going?" asked April.
"No clue. Hopefully nowhere stupid." I said before April and I decided to follow Raph.
Now you're probably saying to yourself, "Donnie, how could you spy on your own brother? Do you not trust him?" Look, I do trust my brothers, even Mikey, but Raph can be… problematic, particularly when he's angry. When he's pissed, he can make bad decisions and throw himself into situations that might be life-threatening. I really don't want Raph to fight 20 Foot Ninja all because Mikey pissed him off with a prank. So, whenever he's above the surface, we keep a close eye on him.
We followed Raph by running and jumping off rooftops. While this was no problem for me, April, on the other hand, was having more trouble. Sensei has been training her to be a Kunoichi since she first met us and while she's certainly improved, she still has ways to go before she can match our level. But she's definitely making some progress.
We kept on following Raph until he stopped at an apartment building and climbed through a window.
"Thank…God…we…stopped." April said through exhausted breaths.
"Why the heck would Raph enter this building?" I asked myself out loud.
"Wait a minute, that's…that's where Casey lives." said April.
"Really? You sure?" I asked.
"I'm positive. I've been to his apartment numerous times. He has an ADORABLE little sister and his dad is pretty nice, although the death of Casey's mom has made recent visits more…awkward." said April.
"What happened to Casey's mom?" I asked.
"She died of cancer." said April.
"Damn. That fucking sucks." I said.
April and I then stood outside the window and we eavesdropped on Raph's conversation with Casey. And the results were…unexpected, to say the least.
"So Raph, I wanted to ask you something. It's kind of stupid but…do you have a tail?" asked Casey.
"Casey, I'm a turtle. OF COURSE, I HAVE A TAIL." said Raph.
"I know, I've seen nature documentaries and stuff about turtles before. It's just that I thought it was weird you guys didn't have visible tails or anything like that." said Casey.
Raph sighed and said, "Our tails are hidden because they're incredibly sensitive and they only come out when we want them to. None of us show off their tails publicly because it would be fucking weird. But, since you're curious, I can show you what it looks like."
"Really?" asked Casey.
"Yeah. Just don't tell anyone about this. EVER." said Raph.
Raph then bent over and allowed his short, green, stubby tail to come out. Casey and Raph must be in some type of relationship because Raph would NEVER let anyone see his tail. Not me, not Leo, not Mikey, not Sensei. ABSOLUTELY NOBODY.
"Can I touch it?" asked Casey.
"NO. You're not allowed to touch it. I'll let you touch it when we reach "that" phase, but for right now, it's off limits." said Raph.
"Okay, well, is this off limits?" Casey asked before he unexpectedly kissed Raph on the lips.
April and I looked at each other in disbelief, wondering if what we were seeing was real.
"You know it'll never be." Raph said before he kissed Casey back and the two were in a full-blown makeout session, not too different from what April and I did on a regular basis.
I never would have guessed that Raph and Casey would be in a romantic relationship with each other. It just seemed so…weird. Now, I have never nor will ever be against LGBT relationships. If two guys want to fall in love with each other, I'm not going to stop them. Besides, it would be highly hypocritical for me to call these people "strange" and "not normal", when I myself, a giant mutant turtle, am anything but normal. But still, Raph always had this "ultra-masculine" attitude, always checking bikini pictures on my laptop (which I erased once April and I became a thing) and Casey clearly had a "ladies' man" persona. So, it was bizarre seeing them locking lips with each other.
Part of me wanted to leave and just let them have their private time, but the other part of me wanted to know more and allow Raph and Casey to come out to us. As those two parts of me were battling it out, my elbow accidently hit the window a little too hard, which caused Raph and Casey to turn around and look out the window, spotting me and April.
And the four of us stared at each other for what felt like hours. All four of us felt exposed.
After a few seconds of nobody saying anything, I decided to break the ice and say, "Hi Raph. Hi Casey." Raph and Casey looked at us and had very pissed off expressions on their faces.
"What the fuck are you two doing here?" asked Raph.
"April saw you running across the rooftops and we got curious, so we followed you here." I said sheepishly.
"Why? You thought I was going to do something stupid, didn't you?" asked Raph.
"Maybe." I said with an embarrassed look on my face.
"And what about you Red, why are you with gaptooth?" asked Casey.
I growled at the nickname Casey gave me, but April thankfully stopped me from saying anything stupid.
"We were…um, doing some late-night training. Yeah, late-night training." April said, failing miserably to sound convincing.
"Red, don't lie to me. I've known you since 2nd grade, you're not good at this lying thing. Besides, me and Raph already know that the two of you are an item." said Casey.
"What? How the hell do you know that?" I asked.
"We did the same thing you did. We spied on you and saw you in your lab, making out with April, tongue and all." said Raph.
In that moment, I made a mental note. "Always lock the lab door."
"Okay, so we've all exposed each other. I'm with April and you're with Casey. And Raph, I'm just going to let you know right now that April and I fully support your relationship with Casey. You deserve happiness just like everyone else and if Casey makes you happy and vice-versa, we support you two 100%." I said.
"Damn right. You think we would shun and shame you guys just because you were gay and bisexual? Fuck no. We'll always love you guys and that will NEVER, EVER change." said April.
Raph and Casey looked at each other and allowed us to enter Casey's bedroom.
"You really mean that?" asked Casey.
"Of course. We're all together until the end." said April.
"Yep, family always sticks together." I said.
The four of us then had a big, old group hug and right after we hugged, Raph asked, "How long have you two been together anyway?"
"6 months. We've been together since December. What about you two?" I asked.
"5 months. We started our relationship in January." said Raph.
"Wow. Well what do you know, I just so happen to be the first turtle to have a romantic partner. I guess that makes me superior to you." I said with a cocky smile on my face.
"Keep talking and I'll tell April all about that chart plan you made." Raph threatened.
"And I'll Casey about your little "sock" collection." I said.
Raph was about to fire back, but he stopped himself. "You got lucky, brainiac." Raph said quietly.
For the next half hour, the four of us were talking about how our relationships started, how we told April and Casey's parents, and if we've done anything remotely "raunchy". It was the most fun we've had in a while, especially after dealing with the Foot and the Kraang on a constant, never-ending basis.
While we were all talking about relationships, Raph brought up something rather random.
"You guys notice how Leo and Mikey have been acting lately?" Raph asked.
From what I've seen from Leo and Mikey recently, they surely weren't acting like themselves. Leo was lashing out at Sensei and Mikey was being responsible. It was definitely not normal. They were also disappearing a lot during the day. It was somewhat concerning.
"Yeah, something feels off about them. I'm not sure what." said April.
"Maybe it's just mood swings? We are teenagers, after all." said Casey.
"I think it's a bit deeper than that." I said.
"You know, now I think about it, Kate's been acting weird too." said April.
"Who's Kate?" asked Raph.
"A long-time friend. Me and Casey have known her since the 2nd grade. Recently, she's been very secretive and I don't know why." said April.
"Have you told her about us?" asked Raph.
"No. I've haven't told her about you guys yet. She does know about mutants and the Foot Clan though." said April.
"At least she's aware of what's going on." said Raph.
"Wait a minute, what's Kate's last name?" I asked.
"Kasai. Why do you ask?" said April.
"Kasai? Where have I heard that name before?" I thought to myself. I thought about it for almost a minute, until it dawned on me.
Kasai. John Kasai. She's John Kasai's daughter. Holy fuck.
I looked at Raph and he had the same expression as me, wide-eyed and horrified.
"Yo, you guys okay?" asked Casey.
Okay? Oh, I was anything but okay in that moment. April and Casey's friend was the daughter of a man who tried to kill us all. And I thought Bob The Tomato and Larry The Cucumber not technically being vegetables was the most shocking thing I've ever heard.
And that's it for Chapter 8. I think it was a nice change pace to not focus on John and instead focus more on Raph and Donnie's personal lives. So, how did you like my portrayals of Raph and Donnie? Out of all the turtles, Raph's personality has changed the least. The only thing different is that he's gay and in a relationship with Casey. Now, from what I've personally seen, a major pitfall for LGBT characters is that writers tend to think that LGBT is a personality trait, even though it's not. Raph and Casey's personalities will not simply be "I'm gay. Look how gay I am.", instead they're still going to act like the egotistical, hot-heads they've always been, who happen to be gay/bi. When it comes to Donnie, I've made him more confident and a bit more egotistical, but he'll still have his awkward nerd moments. I decided to choose Apriltello and Rasey as official ships for this story because one, Apriltello is one of the few ships I can actually get behind, and two, I wanted to give Raph a love interest and I ultimately chose Casey to be his love interest. The next chapter will from the perspectives of multiple different characters because everything will come together and it will be an absolute trainwreck. Other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Bye for now and stay safe.