Iced cold brew, bitter and slightly sweetened with chocolate syrup. That's how I liked to start my mornings.
I hummed to myself as the icy liquid slid down my throat, cupping the plastic cup with both hands as I savored my favorite drink. Coffee was my lifeline. How would I ever survive without it.
I sat at my desk in the corner of the spacious living room while waiting for my laptop to finish its update. My eyes glanced over to my 'I get fired up at exactly 8:13 every morning for absolutely no reason at all whatsoever' roommate. April O'Neil.
We were both freshmen in college, not quite finished with the first semester. She was 19 years old while I had just turned 18. She was pretty cool, often brought me free pizza and even put in effort to remember how I liked my coffee. But she was also an absolute gremlin.
I mean how does she live off of 4- hours of sleep a day?? I could barely function on a minimum of 8 hours. And missing my afternoon naps? I would probably go on a murder spree honestly. This woman was always on a run, or an adventure of some kind. I had heard of these 'friends' of hers, but truth be known, they were probably a pack of actual gremlins that she had befriended. An absolute menace to society, that woman.
But still a really fucking cool menace.
"Morning, June. Straight to work already? How much do you have left on that project anyways?"
I sipped my coffee once more before replying, holding two fingers up to indicate two weeks, "Mary Shelley blessed us with Frankenstein. The least I could do is take time to appreciate her work and get a head start. Super underrated author if you ask me. What better way to honor her work than to sit inside writing on a rainy day as she once did herself?"
She rolled her eyes as she finished putting her left shoe on, standing up from our shared couch. "You're such a dork, I bet you and Donnie would get along great."
"On the contrary, he sounds literally like an actual mad scientist. Seriously, where did you find these friends?"
"I bumped into them in the sewers" she replied sarcastically, and I chuckled. "Of course you did. Out at ungodly hours of the night, constantly busy, never in one place for too long. What are you, a sewer hero?" She rolled her eyes at my stupid pun and I snickered to myself.
"Alright, I'm going out. Text me if you need anything while I'm gone."
"Will do" I called back to her as she walked out the door. Once again, I was met with the silence of morning.
As I waited for my laptop to finishing booting up, I glanced around our living space. It was a place that April and I had decided to rent out, we had both agreed our dorm was too small. Me being the recluse that I was, I was more than happy to move in with April when she offered. Apparently, she knows a lot of people, so we ended up getting to stay here for pretty cheap.
The two bedrooms were pretty average sized, a single but decent sized bathroom, and a spacious living room with a large balcony that extended from our end of the building. I did most of the decorating since I was home the most. Plants of various kinds were littered across the room. My favorite being the polka dot plant that had blue, purple, and even pink polka dots on the leaves. My second favorite slot was reserved for the rare succulents that I had managed to get my hands on.
As for furniture, the place was already furnished. A king sized bed for each of us, and two large, super comfy blue suede couches covered in several blankets and pillows. Hanging lights in each room, because why not? They gave the place a homey feel. And pictures and paintings scattered across the walls. Most of the artwork was courtesy of yours truly, Juniper Lee. My signature sloppy 'JL' scribbled on the bottom right corner of each one.
The familiar jingle of my computer finally finishing its update grasped my attention. I sighed and set my coffee to the side, quickly getting to work on my huge essay project. It was my final, and the deadline was in two weeks. I wasn't worried in the least, English was my best subject and I'll be damned if I get anything less than an A-.
On this dreary, rain-filled afternoon, I went in for another day of work at the drive-in, but at least it was a slow one. The rain pouring outside seemed to deter our normal customers from coming through, not wanting to get soaked from the rain while they ordered and received their food. That was more than fine with me.
I sat inside the store in front of the bulky fan we had in place to dry the floors. Our manager wasn't all that great but even she knew better than to tempt us into trying a hand at workers comp from an injury on the job.
Currently, I was drying out my roller skates while business was slow, the puddles outside having soaked my skates and socks all the way through. My blonde hair crinkled with the humidity, becoming a frizzy wavy mess right before my eyes. My feet were ugly and pruned from being soaking wet for a couple of hours.
My coworker and boyfriend, Ross Abshire, sat on the bench beside me. He wrung out his socks and muttered angrily about 'what a stupid job it was' and I couldn't disagree more. But I didn't have the courage to voice my opinion against his.
The drive-in, named Moody's, wasn't so bad. Sure, no one liked working in fast food, but the pay and tips were great compared to other food and retail jobs. Not to mention, the management of the establishment could definitely be a lot worse. Geraldine, our manager, was a plump, brunette woman in her late 40's with a permanent RBF. She was a harsh woman around the edges but she truly meant well. You don't get to be a good boss by being a push over and letting stuff slide. I respected her sternness and only made sure to push her buttons in a playful way, never putting her in a bind by being an unreliable employee.
Said manager had just turned the corner from the kitchen and stopped in front of her current four employees on shift. All four of them with nothing left to do for the night, just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. Geraldine sighed and tapped her clipboard, eyes flicking between her paper and each of them. "Okay, no customers means we don't need all of you on shift tonight. Who wants to go home?"
My heart twinged as I eyed my two other coworkers. Patsy Bailey and John Cherrie. Both also college students who were sadly, but obviously, less fortunate than I. I didn't need the hours as badly as them so I raised my right hand to volunteer to be sent home. Ross followed my lead winking at me.
"Alright you two. Bye." She turned on her heel and left without another word.
Internally, I groaned. I had no choice now, the date night I had been putting off was now back on the table.
April never really knew what she was in for whenever she would go on adventures with her mutant friends. Sometimes it was something as simple as using coupons to buy discounted and sometimes free pizza. Other times it was running from trouble they had managed to get into, usually from other mutant groups and what-not.
Now was one of those times.
"Any plans on what we do now, Mr. Brain?"
"Patience, Leon. I'm thinking." Donnie said, running alongside her. He frowned as he thought about what their next move should be. They couldn't lead this gang of thugs back to their lair, Splinter would quite literally probably kill them. They could fight the gang, but there were just too many of those brutes and fighting in the middle of a populated street was probably the dumbest thing they could do right now. They've had their fair share of bystanders getting hurt, and Donnie did not want to add more humans to that list.
"We could hide at my place?" April piped up, not even slightly out of breath. "My roommate's scheduled to be working right now so she won't be home for another few hours."
"Yeah" Donnie nodded at his friend, "It's right around the corner right? But on the off chance that she is home-"
"-two steps ahead of you, Donald." Leo interrupted as he suddenly disappeared in the alley to his left, Mikey in tow. Donnie rolled his eyes before yanking April with him to his right as Raph followed suit.
It took a couple of turns but they managed to get out of sight before the gang caught up with them again. April opened the door to the balcony, it was never locked to begin with, and ushered the boys inside. As soon as they had all gathered inside, she rushed behind them and slammed the door shut, yanking the curtains in front of the glass doors.
The only light in the room came from the decorative hanging lights, a soft yellow illuminating the spacious area. The turtles sighed unanimously and took their seats on the couches.
"Man that was close" Leo breathed out and Donnie could only agree. "Yeah, it was a close. Also, tell me why you had to open your big mouth."
"They started it." He muttered childishly, crossing his arms over his plastron. Donnie rolled his eyes at him, "They told you to get lost. You replied 'get found'. In what universe does provoking a flock of thugs seem like a good idea to you?"
"This one seemed like a good-"
A click resounded from the corner of the room, freezing them all in their current positions as light flooded the room.
I had just finished getting ready for my date, trying to hype myself up to just call it off again. I could only use the being sick excuse so many times, three times was already too many.
I looked myself up and down in the mirror approvingly. My blonde hair, which was normally thrown up in a bun, was now straightened and reached my mid back. I picked out a generic gray tank top with 'Beast' in bold black font across the front, a pair of ripped jeans, and my old worn out maroon vans. Date night wasn't a fancy thing, it was just a trip to the movie theatre, dinner not included. Part of me was glad it wasn't a big thing, because if it was then I would have to pretend I felt more for Ross when I really did not. But the hopeless romantic in me longed for something more passionate. I was so burnt out on doing the same ole things with the same guy for a whole year, and honestly, things needed to change up soon or else, I convinced myself, that I was going to end up dying alone.
I mean, Ross wasn't all that bad. Sure he was kind of snobby and rude, and never liked to tip whenever we went out to eat and-
Well.
He was rough around the edges, yeah. But in the beginning he was very sweet. He bought me flowers and bought me random items just because they were my favorite color, green. And he introduced me to his mom, who had told me about his abusive father and told me to just be patient with his anger spells. You know, the complete over sharing on a first meeting kind of thing. Once, he brought me a milkshake at one in the morning just because I had a bad night. He could be sweet.
We could work, if I just put in more effort maybe. Or maybe I brought out the worse in him...
Murmuring voices interrupted my chain of thought. April was home early for a change? I stopped at the doorway, flicking the light switch on and filling the area with light.
I could only blink comically at the sight before me. My eyes honestly just could not believe the scene that was displayed in front of me. Sitting there, in my living room, were four mutant green men. With shells. And some of them had armor. No wait- one had real armor. Wielding some sick looking weapons. April sitting amongst them caught my eye. April? Everyone stayed impossibly still with baited breath as I silently prayed that I wouldn't have to be the one to break the tension.
"Oh, would you look at that. The exact thing I tried to warn everyone about is happening right now." The one adorned in a purple masked snarked and laughed humorlessly.
Before I could even come up with a reply or comment of some sort, a knock on the door stopped me. I looked to the strangers in my apartment with wide eyes, holding my right index finger to my lips silently ask them not to make a sound. My left hand raised up, palm facing them gesturing for them to wait. Obviously, I had a lot of questions.
I tiptoed to the door, cringing when I looked through the peephole to see Ross standing there. I stood straight and took a deep breath to fix my composure. I cracked the door open making sure he couldn't see into the living space behind it. He greeted me with a smirk and a wink, my lips pulled into a tight line across my face. I looked up at him hoping my face didn't show any of the awkwardness I felt.
"Hey, Ross. I'm uh, not gonna be able to go on that date tonight. Something's come up-"
"Oh come on. It's always something. How hard is it to have a movie night with my girl, huh?" He finished off trying to butter me up, but quickly soured when I didn't budge.
"I know, I'm sorry. I've just got a lot going on." I brushed a shaky hand through my hair. His dull green eyes narrowed in on me and he pushed his palm against the door, threatening to open it.
"Yeah 'a lot going on' sounds like a lot of bull to me." It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him. "You got another boy in there or something?"
"No, I don't-"
His laugh cut me off, but it didn't make me feel better in the slightest. He shook his head, brunette locks shaking as he put more pressure against the door. My hand trembled slightly with effort to keep it closed. "I'm not stupid. Now, I've been patient with you but I'm tired of waiting.", his head dipped down and eyes narrowed more. The curve of his lips morphed from a humorless smile to a disturbing frown, "I'm gonna get what I came here for, Lee."
He pushed his full weight into the door and my heart stuttered in my chest. For just a moment the white wooden door was swinging open, but just as fast it stopped and wouldn't budge any further. Peeking to the side, behind the door were April and the purple masked fellow. They both stood there with their backs braced against the door. My eyes locked with Aprils just long enough for me to catch her smug grin. I internally rolled my eyes because I knew she had been waiting for me to dump him since she first met Ross. Unfortunately, today was not that day. Because I was totally a push over.
"You know what, Ross? Just- just go home." I pleaded, not sparing him another glance.
With the help of extra weight on the door, I slammed it shut and bolted the lock. A sigh escaped my lips as I slid down the door. Both my hands grasped my face in embarrassment and I groaned.
I could hear the shuffling of my unwarranted helpers pulling away from the door.
"He sounds like a real piece of work."
"Yeah, what a jerk!"
I peeked through my fingers to see the man in the blue mask nodded in agreement to the first comment.
"I told you guys!" April exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "I've been trying to get her to dump that guy for months, he's a total creep."
I couldn't help the relief bubbling in my chest from the normalcy of it all. The tension that had suffocated the apartment before Ross's arrival had all but dissipated. Another feeling began rising to the surface, replacing the previous one.
"Ah okay- fuck." I started, watching my hands fall into my lap. "He's gonna be really upset with me." The depth of Ross's words was finally sinking in and I fought to swallow the new emotion that threatened to bubble to the surface.
"So", I started, peering up at my new acquaintances, "what are your names?"
The one in orange was quick to be the first to introduce himself, "I'm Michelangelo, also know as Mikey or Michael or Doctor Feelings or Doctor Delicate Touch or-" his introduction was interrupted by the fellow in the blue mask shoving him to the side.
"Or Miguel. I'm Leonardo, but you can call me Leo. The totally tough badass of the team and the mystic lover man of the team all in one. I can be whichever one you prefer." He winked at me, holding his hand out to me. I merely blinked at it. He was suddenly shoved to the side just had he had done to Mikey, a dark green hand smacked him across his face.
"Forgive my brothers, they were apparently raised in a barn together." The purple masked one suddenly appeared in front of me, frowning disapprovingly at Leo and Mikey. He turned to me and held out his own hand, which I gingerly accepted as he easily pulled me up into a standing position.
"I'm Donatello, the brains of the operation. Call me Donnie-"
"Or Donald" Leo snickered behind his hand. Donnie ignored his brother's antics, continuing his introduction until I spoke up.
"Oh, that's right!" I quipped. "You're the scientist dork that April told me about."
He scoffed, cutting his eyes at April who grinned sheepishly, "Scoff! Scientist dork? Really?" His eyes found mine once again and a single eyebrow rose on his face as he gave me a quick once over.
"And I suppose you're the English dork that April told me about?" He turned my own words against me and I shrugged.
" 'The world to me was a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.' Who says research has to be confined to only science or art? I think art is a science in itself." I quoted Mary Shelley, being currently obsessed with author as it is. His eyes lit up for a moment before he turned to his brothers, nonchalantly pointing a thumb in my direction, "See? She totally gets it."
"Watch out, Lee." April grasped my shoulder, shaking me slightly. "You'll bring out Donnie's psychotic theatrical side if you're not careful."
Donnie gaped at her, taking obvious offense to her misrepresentation of his dramatic theatrics. She continued, pointing at the red fellow who still sat on the couch fidgeting nervously. "And this is Raphael, we call him Raph. He's shy around new people, he doesn't wanna scare you." She whispered the last part in my ear and I mouthed a silent 'Oh' in acknowledgment. I tentatively waved at him with a smile and received a small bashful wave in return.
Two hours later found me sitting amongst the group occupying the couches, firing off questions just as fast as they were being answered. I learned a lot in those two hours. How they were actually mutant turtles, which should've been obvious from the shells on their backs. They're father was a mutant rat who raised them. Said mutant rat was also a pain in the ass, but it was obvious from the way they spoke of him that they did love him very much.
Of course, of the past couple of years humans and mutants became more integrated and not as segregated. They were still very much so a minority, but being out in public didn't warrant immediate police interaction anymore. Had I found them in my home two years earlier? My reaction would have definitely involved a lot more screaming and panicking for sure.
But the guys were nice. Sure, they were a tiny bit rough around the edges, but they were funny and the personalities they exuded was extremely refreshing compared to the recent human interactions I had. April was an exception to that.
All too soon my newfound friends had said their goodbyes, promising to come back and visit more often now that we had been (for the most part) properly introduced to one another. My serotonin boost had carried me into a much needed sleep that night, the best sleep I had received in a long time.
Everything was fine.