Leatherhead straightened the glaring orange vest for what felt the hundredth time. They had to tear apart two and stitch them together to fit across his enormous shoulders, and honestly it didn't sit well on him.

Turning to face the mirror again, LH couldn't help but cringe at his reflection. The bright orange vest clashed horribly with his green scales, and the white gloves he was required to wear, were nearly bursting at the seams.

All in all, he hated his crossing guard uniform. Not to mention the fact that he was an M.D. and had only been able to land this job with the help of Michelangelo.

The thought alone was enough for his entire body to tense. He had applied to so many hospitals looking for work, but as soon as they got a good look at him, they had quickly claimed the "position had been filled."

In the end he had had to turn to his childhood friend for help. Mikey had landed a job as a daycare teacher and had spoken to the school admin about finding an opening for his large friend. At the time, nothing had been open except for the school crossing guard, and since beggars can't be choosers, LH took it.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about this job. Michelangelo was thrilled, but then again everything thrilled himThe large croc sighed. Might as well get going. He didn't want to be late.

"Wait wait wait!" Raph guffawed loudly. "Ya were a frickin' crossin' guard? Fer kids?"

LH didn't have the ability to blush, but if he did, he had no doubt his face would have been tomato red.

"At the time…" he trailed off as Raph's booming laughter turned into gasps of air.

"Come on dude, LH was awesome!" Mikey said, jabbing Raph in the ribs. "Just because the kids didn't want to cross-"

Raph's new bark of laughter cut off Mikey's explanation.

"I assure you, it was not a job that lasted," Leatherhead said. But any attempt to salvage his reputation went out the door when Donnie spoke.

"The kids didn't want to cross?"

LH grimaced. That was probably one of the more embarrassing moments in his life, and he had thought it was far behind him.

LH just stared at the screeching child on the curb. All he had done was motion for him to begin crossing the street, now that traffic had been stopped. It was the first kid LH had seen that morning, and things were already going horribly.

"Come little one," the croc tried to cajole the child in near hysterics across the street. "The nice cars have all stopped so you can go to school."

The child didn't even pause to take a breath. LH was at a loss. What was he supposed to do? Clearly the child wasn't going to move, but he needed to get the kid to school.

A blaring horn sounded from the minivan on his right. More cars were starting to build up behind them, and they all seemed to be filled with increasingly angry New-Yorker parents.

Gulping audibly, LH motioned for the cars to once again start moving. As he stepped towards the side of the street that the child was on, the young boy scrambled back as if mere proximity with the large reptile would mean his doom.

Leatherhead blinked, then sighed. So that's what the problem was. Moving towards the street once again, he motioned for the cars to stop. Moving to the opposite end of the intersection, the croc then turned his back on the crosswalk.

LH listened behind him as he heard the quick patter of feet pound across the blacktop, the sniffles and whimpers dying away. Turning back, LH saw the child running to the school, backpack bouncing absurdly on his behind him.

Laughing sadly to himself, LH turned to motion the cars forward again.

"Hey Mr. Lizard! Make the cars stop!"

LH startled at the small voice.

"One moment," he said good-naturedly, keeping his eye on the moving traffic. It was refreshing to hear a child that wasn't terrified of him, even if he had mistaken him to be a lizard.

"Wow you are so slow!" the child drawled.

Leatherhead turned to look at the child as the cars slowed to a halt. It was another boy, but this time there were a few more children. Most were staring at him slack-jawed, while the rest looked to the smug boy who had spoken like some kind of weird hero-worship.

"I want to make sure all the cars stop," LH explained. "It is better to be slow than-"

"Yeah yeah lets just walk already. We'll be here forever if we wait for this gecko."

LH felt his eye twitch. Gecko?

"Come on guys, before he licks his eyeball."

With that, the small horde of children crossed the street without so much as a backwards glance at the shocked croc.

Leatherhead stood frozen, his jaw hanging open.

What the hell had just happened? Did he just get dissed by a child that barely made it up to his knee? Who was he calling a GECKO?!

LH was still in shock when a blaring horn broke into his churning thoughts. Blinking slowly, he motioned for the cars to continue on their way.

It was going to be a long day.

"It's a good thing this kid was going to school," muttered Donnie. "Maybe he would learn that geckos don't have teeth."

At this point both Mikey and Raph were falling over each other in fits of laughter. Even the usually stoic Leonardo was desperately trying to stifle his amusement behind his hand.

Leatherhead couldn't help but smile. Looking back, it had been rather humorous.

"So how did you end up going from a crossing guard to a bouncer?"

Leatherhead looked at Leonardo and shrugged.

"I got lucky?"

"Psh yeah right dude. You got hand-picked!"

"I thought you said he was recruited?" Leo asked, quirking a brow at the exuberant turtle.

"Same difference," Mikey shrugged.

"Actually, being recruited implies that one attempts to acquire the services for an employer or armed forces, while being hand-picked implies-"

"Aw, come on man!" Mikey whined. "If I wanted a lesson I would have stayed at the school tonight!"

Donnie blinked, unused to being interrupted mid-lecture.

"Fine!" Mikey threw his hands up in the air. "He was recruited!"

Leatherhead winced at Mikey's emphasis on the word. Recruited may be closer to the truth than he wanted to admit.