"Aww, are you bored without me?" I teased, sitting at an outdoor table at the Dancing Crane Café.
"No, I just called to tell you I broke that crystal angel sculpture." He said as if he hadn't a care in the world. I froze, almost letting my drink slip through my fingers as dread leaked through my body.
"You what?" I demanded, voice low and hands clenched.
"I'm messing with you, it's intact." I slumped back in my seat with relief.
"I was two seconds away from murdering you through this phone," I breathed.
"That would've been interesting." I could hear the smile in Raphael's voice.
"What have you been doing while I've been dying here?" I asked, sipping my iced tea.
"I just finished watching Star Wars and I've never been more confused in my life." I grinned.
"Which one?"
"Oh. Aw shit, I watched the third one! Damn, well that explains a lot."
"Have you never seen Star Wars before?" I asked in disbelief.
"No."
"What kind of childhood did you have!? Those movies were my favorite when I was a kid. We're bringing them to the lair so everyone can watch them," I heard his sigh and smiled, "if you're bored, you can-"
"Nope. Not bored."
"Well I sure as hell am," I glanced around, making sure nobody would hear me, "this place is like a jail cell, and I still have another two hours to stand around enduring stupid questions. If I hear one more kid ask if these lemurs are in the movie Madagascar, I'm going to snap." He snorted.
"Well they are from Madagascar."
"Yeah, but they're real, not animated. And everything at this café costs a fortune!" I hissed under my breath.
"Anything else you gonna vent about?" A small family of four sat down at a table not far from me. I sighed and sipped my drink.
"Nah, I'll save it all for when I get home."
"How kind of you." I laughed.
"You enjoy my rants, admit it."
"There is nothing I enjoy less." I rolled my eyes.
"Oh, whatever...Wanna hear the dumbest question I've been asked so far?"
"Nope."
"Yeah you do. So this lady came up to me while I was at the poison dart frogs and asked me when they shed their skin and turn into tadpoles." I drummed my fingernails on the tabletop, irritated just thinking of it.
"Don't they start as tadpoles then turn into frogs?"
"Yep." I pulled my phone away from my ear to check the time and groaned.
"I have to go, my shift starts again in five minutes. I'll see you after another two hours in hell."
"Don't kill anyone with that temper." I tapped the call off then jammed my phone back into my pocket, downed the remainder of my drink, pasted a fake smile onto my face and grudgingly made my way back to the Tropic Zone building with feigned enthusiasm.
••• 影の秘密 •••
The apartment was eerily quiet and empty when I walked in, with my great grandmother's angel crystal undisturbed on it's place on the bookshelf. It looked exactly as it did when I left, as if no life had been present while I was gone. But I knew the turtle was here. I could smell his familiar, calming, musky scent hanging in the air. I smiled as I took of my shoes.
Gotta love having ninja friends.
"Did you miss me?" I called.
"You wish." Raphael seemed to appear from thin air in the living room. He lifted his non-existent eyebrows questioningly at me, "why are you still wearing that?"
"What...?" I looked down at myself, realizing I was still wearing the god awful outfit granted to me by the zoo. I laughed sheepishly and ran my hands through my hair, "damn. I ran out of that place so fast I forgot to change."
"There's no way it was that bad." He protested as he followed me into my room. I snorted and closed my closet door behind me to change, "that's what I thought at first too. But turns out, it's boring as hell, people are dumber than you think and it gets really hot in that building." I switched out the dark green t-shirt and khakis for the leggings and beige tank top I wore this morning.
"Well it is called the Tropic Zone." He pointed out. I rolled my eyes and reopened the door. The mutant had his head craned back, looking up at the stars on the roof of my bedroom. I stifled a laugh.
"What are you doing?" He tore his gaze from the roof to look down at me with a smirk.
"Admiring your shitty paint job."
"Hey!" I punched his arm, "I was twelve, give me a break." I couldn't help the grin that overtook my face. He broke his gaze away to look out the window. The sun was sending it's last rays of farewell as it sank lower and lower in the sky. I bit my lip, trying to decide if it would be a bad idea to ask him something.
He won't kill you, he's not as violent as you think.
"Do you miss the lair?" I blurted. Raphael's brows knitted together in surprise and he looked down at me.
His quizzical expression seemed to say, why do you care?
I shrugged, awaiting an answer. He released his breath before speaking.
"Sometimes it's weird not being there, but I like being out of the sewers," his half smile faltered and he looked away, clearing his throat as if just realizing what he was saying, "just wish I didn't have to watch your ass all the time." I recoiled in annoyance.
"You wanted to stalk me and make sure I didn't tell anyone about you guys, alright? You did this to yourself, and you're welcome to quit anytime. You'd be doing me a favour." He looked about to say something, but instead set his face in the scowl I was hoping he'd discarded. I clenched my hands into fists to keep myself from exploding.
"Olivia's working a late shift, she won't be back until later. Let's head out." Without another word or glance his way, I stormed out of my room, grabbed the Star Wars trilogy from the living area, then left the apartment. Raphael followed me from above.
I was pissed.
I'd told him about my family; something only Liv and I ever spoke about a handful of times. I'd talked with him about things I didn't mean to mention, and found that sharing things with him was nice.
It was odd; radiating from this mutant turtle was an overwhelming feeling of protection, and openness, and mischievousness and understanding. I felt I could be myself around him, so I'd opened up. I'd never done that with someone aside from Olivia. It was comforting, knowing that there was someone else in my life I could confide in. And I was both surprised and grateful that it was the red masked turtle. Somehow, he seemed to understand me better than others. And somehow, I'd managed to bring out this goofy, happy, enjoyable side of him that Leo so confidently believed his brother possessed. And then, as if he were ashamed of how he was acting around me-of joking and smiling-he decided to accuse me of him having to follow me around and hide inside my apartment all day. All of it made me want to scream.
Raphael must be more confusing than the goddamn Bermuda Triangle.
We reached a secluded entrance to the sewers.
As we made our way to the lair, trudging through tunnels containing shallow sewage I usually tried to sidestep, I decided to address the building tension,
"Explain something to me," I snapped, "how is it that you were so chill around me and actually seemed to be having fun, and then you're like bam! Cold as the fuckin North Pole." He didn't answer, and I didn't dare turn to look up at his face or else I probably would've knocked it off and into tomorrow. I continued.
"I get that you're temper is shorter than Mikey's attention span, but at least try not to let it out on me again...I'm fine if you want to follow me around until you know you can trust me, but if you're gonna be an ass about it all the time then so will I. So chill the hell out, stop wearing that fake scowl, and for Christ's sake let down your goddamn wall for once and let yourself have fun! Because I know that you hide yourself behind anger and pretend that you don't care, but you do. And do not try to bullshit me because I've seen it and-" and I actually like you when you drop your tough guy act, "...and I will bust your face into the next fuckin century if you're a douche to me again, ya got it?" He chuckled, his anger seeming to have evaporated following my last statement.
"You know, we're really not that different." I scowled.
"Hate to disagree, but my threats are way better and affective and I'm actually approachable."
"Not when you're pissed," he protested, voice laced with amusement. I huffed in irritation.
Not only is this big hothead a jerk, he's also bipolar. Awesome.
