Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.
Chapter #8
Sam hadn't realized what time it was when she heard a knock on her window. She was in front of her desk where her t.v. sat when to her left at the window was a smiling Michelangelo. A smile also began to grow on her face as she gave him the O.K. symbol and he opened the window. He opened the window and climbed on through, leaning his skateboard against an open space along the wall.
"Hey toots, you forget about me already?"
She snickered. "Right, because an almost 6 foot turtle is so easy to forget."
"Well you're the one who left the window closed."
"Not because I forgot about you, I just lost track of time."
"Mhm, right, I see how it is" he teased. "What are you listening to?"
"Oh, the song playing right now? It's called "Obsession" by G-Dragon."
"And that would be?"
Sam gave him a wicked smile. "See, if I tell you, then that means you have to allow me to rant on and fangirl for a while, as in I can't just simply say who he is, you'll have to listen to the whole story."
Mikey put his fingers on his chin, jokingly questioning the situation. "Hmmmm, I guess I have the time to listen to your rant."
Sam's eyes went wide. "REALLY?!"
"Really" he smiled.
Sam then went on to tell Mikey everything she knew about G-Dragon and Big Bang, the music group he was a member of. She told him all she knew and even showed him many of their music videos, which eventually lead to her showing him many of their funny moment videos. Within that same hour, Mikey had quickly become a fan of the group. He and his brothers loved listening to new groups and types of music and experimenting with what they did and didn't like, and right now he definitely liked this group.
"So, do you like older groups and songs? Since according to this Wikipedia page, the album with this song came out in 2009."
"Well, with this album specifically I just love a lot of the songs and the uniqueness to them, like it's hard to believe that these songs came out in 09. But I'll honestly admit that I'm all over the place when it comes to knowing songs, groups, and individual members and who and what belongs where. I'm a fan of some groups who have been around for a while, but I'm also a fan of some more 'recent' groups. Like I love Super Junior who debuted in 2005, but lately I've been focusing on BTS a lot more than anyone else."
"I guess you'll introduce me to those groups another day then?"
Sam smiled, if he held true to his comment, then that meant there would be more days where the two would be hanging out. "Yea haha, I don't want my fangirling to scare you away so soon."
"Well, how about I introduce you to a group that I'm a fan of then?"
"Alright, sounds fair. I've done my fangirling, now you show me who you fanboy over."
He laughed. "Since you've introduced me to an Asian group, I'll continue that trend." He currently was sitting on the bean bag chair which he had moved closer to the bed as the two had been watching and dancing to music videos that Sam was streaming on her television. Sam tossed her phone down to Mikey who began typing, and soon a music video popped up, one that ironically was familiar to Sam.
"Oh, I know this song!"
"NO WAY! You listen to One Ok Rock?!"
"Not religiously, but I know some songs, this one being my favorite."
The two then sang along with and danced to "The Beginning" by One Ok Rock, followed by more partying to multiple other songs by the same group.
"This is awesome!" Sam then plugged her phone in as the battery was getting low. "No one EVER has the same music interests as me, and when I show them the music I like, they just brush it off like it's horrible just because it's in another language."
"Well not this guy!" he said with excitement. "I'll give anything a shot!" He then looked over at the television and noticed that the DVD player had the words "PAUSE" across it.
"Hey Sam, what were you doing before I got here?"
She looked in the same direction he was. "I was going to start watching the beginning of a new movie that I've been dying to see."
"What movie?"
"Naruto: The Last Movie."
Mikey gasped and clapped his hands to his cheeks. "You have it on DVD?! Is it subbed or dubbed?!"
"Dubbed."
"HOW DID YOU GET IT?! I've wanted to watch it but I wanted to watch it on t.v. and not on a computer screen."
She laughed. "I put in a request at the library forever ago and finally it was my turn to take it home."
"Can…can we watch it now?" he asked timidly.
"Oh my god yes! Like I would love to watch it with someone else. I was going to secretly watch it by myself and pretend I was watching it for the first time once I finally got to watch it with Jay, but this would be way more fun!"
"Sweet!" he shouted as he ran over to the bed, halting right before he was about to leap onto it.
Sam tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong? I just showered a few hours ago."
He rapidly shook his head. "No that's not why I stopped you smell fine! Just, I didn't want to just sit on your bed or assume that I'm allowed to or anything and I just don't want to be rude and…yea."
Sam gave him a blank face and then goofily scooted over while maintaining the same expression, leaving an open space on the other side of the bed. She then put her left arm out and raised her eyebrows at him.
He stared at her in disbelief. "…Me?"
She gave him a puzzled look with a smile. "Who else? Just take your shoes off."
"What's wrong with my shoes?"
"They touch the ground."
"So?"
"I don't want dirt on my bed!" she laughed.
He shrugged. "Fair enough" he said as he kicked off his shoes and sat down next to her.
The two then watched the movie, every once in a while making comments about how much they shipped NaruHina, or cracking some type of joke about the film.
Mikey pointed towards the screen. "Hey look! Sasuke is in the film for a whole ten seconds!"
Then later on it was her turn.
"Look! He's in the film for another ten seconds!"
The two hadn't realized how late it was until after the film had ended.
Sam frowned. "Dang, its 12a.m. already. I need to get to sleep so I can wake up at a decent time tomorrow for school."
"I guess that means I have to wait until the weekend to see you again, right? Because every night will be a school night?"
"Um, actually, I usually don't have a lot of homework each night, and it isn't AP testing season just yet, so most nights I'll be able to hangout. Sadly you'd have to come over kind of late most nights though, and you would have to leave kind of early as well." Sam rubbed the back of her neck. "I doubt you want to make the trip up here just to have to leave so soon."
Playfully, he gave her a confused look. "Did you book me for events that I don't know about?"
"You would come all the way up here just to hangout for a couple of hours?"
"Totally dude, you're really chill and easy and fun to talk to. The only issue is if my brothers need me. Like if there's a Foot clan attack somewhere, then I need to be there stopping them with my bros."
Sam was shocked. "You guys fight the Foot huh? That's insane, in a good way of course. You have a phone of any kind?"
Mikey reached into his right pocket and pulled out what looked like a hand-sized turtle shell. When he pressed a button on the flat side of the shell, a screen turned on.
"Donnie made these for us, we call them shell cells. They pretty much work like regular cell phones."
Sam took the phone, impressed with its design. It would be cool to talk to the nerdy brother, but she knew that would never happen. Sam then began looking for a 'contacts' app to click on in order to prevent herself from thinking about how the other brothers had treated her a few nights previous. She entered her number into the phone and then used it to call her own phone. After a few seconds, her phone began to ring.
"Alright, now we can communicate with each other. If the other doesn't pick up when they're sent a message, then we know that they're busy."
Mikey's face then displayed a mischievous smile. "Heh, now I have two girls phone numbers" he said, putting two thumbs up.
Sam responded with pursed lips while slowly shaking her head. "Wow, such a player. Two whole girls."
"Hey! For a turtle who lives in the sewers, that's pretty good!"
She laughed. "Yea I guess so. Well, hopefully see you tomorrow?"
He held up his phone. "I'll be waiting for that text. Unless time gets away from you again."
"*sigh* you're never going to let me live that down now, are you?"
"Nope! Goodnight!" he said with a smile as he opened the window and climbed through, and that fast he was gone. As Sam turned off the lights in her room, she hoped that she would be able to see her friend again the next night, and she wondered if he thought of her as a friend as well.
The rest of that week, Sam and Mikey had continued to meet up with each other. Even on Wednesday and Thursday when there had been some gangs trying to rob a few banks and the turtles had stopped them late into the night, Mikey still stopped by for a few minutes to let his new friend know he was alright, and also just to say hi. It was now Friday night and Mikey was heading over to her house once again. At this point his brothers didn't even ask him where he was off to, they just hoped that he wasn't doing anything stupid.
For most of that first week their wishes had been answered since the new friends had just been hanging out at Sam's apartment the whole time. Jay was rarely there, so the two were able to venture around the rest of the apartment and not just the one bedroom. On Monday the two had an intense nerf gun battle after Mikey had learned how to secretly add healthier ingredients to his pizza and then helped Sam bake a few batches of cookies. On Tuesday, Mikey helped Sam work on some projects she needed to complete for the many clubs she was a member of in the kitchen where they had more table space, and on Wednesday and Thursday the two played video games on the larger television in the living room with the little time they had. He assumed that tonight would be no different, but he was shocked when he climbed through the open window and saw that Sam was completely dressed with a small back pack on her back.
He knocked on the side of the wall. Sam turned around and smiled. "Ayeee."
"Hey, you going somewhere?"
"WE are going somewhere, yes. Thank you for asking."
Sam was wearing a long sleeve dark red shirt and navy blue track sweatpants with a beanie on her head sporting the same colors. In her back pack was her basic necessities, her tonfa, a phone and tablet, her camera detector, and attached to the back was her skateboard.
"Uhhhh" Mikey said in a confused high pitched tone "I can't really go anywhere, ever."
Sam was confused. "Why not? You're a ninja right?"
"Yea, but I still look like this" he said as he held up his hand and wiggled his three fingers.
"Well, blend in with the shadows like you usually do."
"Where are we going anyway? And why?"
"We've been meeting up in the same apartment building all week. It's been fun, but it's Friday night! Who wants to stay locked up at home on a weekend night?"
"Me, which is what I've been doing all my life."
"Well, you're friends with me now, so you don't have to do that any…more…" Sam was confused as to why the turtle in front of her was just staring blankly at her. She then realized for the first time since they had met that one of them had officially called the other a friend. She paused, afraid that he might want to run off now that she had given a title to their relationship, but to her amusement he just turned around and shouted "Alright lead the way!"
Sam fought to conceal her smile as she realized his reaction was one of amazement and joy. She was still getting used to the fact that this new friendship made him as happy as it had made her.
Theme: Marshmello-Ritual
Mikey climbed out the window and then jumped onto a ladder on the building across from where he was. He slid down the ladder and was waiting on the ground for Sam when he heard his phone go off. He read the message: Hey I'm up top. Where are you?"
"What?..." He looked up and saw Sam waving her hand over the side of the top of the building. He pulled his board from off his back and hopped on as he used it to glide up to the top of the building.
"What are you doing up here?" he asked once he reached the top of the building.
"Waiting for you! What were you doing down there? Hmph, and you were the one worried about getting caught" she said as she shook her head.
Michelangelo looked around, wondering how the heck they were going to move around when they were so high up. Wait…she couldn't mean…
"Are we jumping buildings?" he asked with wide eyes.
"Try to keep up!" she shouted as she ran forward.
"Sam, wait!" But before he could say anything to her, she had already run and leaped over to the next building. She skid to a stop once she stuck her landing on the roof. She looked over and smiled towards her friend, waiting for him to come join her. Quickly he ran over and with ease he jumped onto the same roof, but he was furious rather than happy.
"What the heck was that? Are you crazy?"
Her smile faded. "No, maybe when I first started doing this yes, but it's easy now. I mean not as easy as it is for you since you're taller than me, and ripped, but it's still a lot easier than it used to be haha."
"You…you've done this before? For how long?"
"About four years. I'm on my own a lot now, so I have to go find fun things to do on my own, that and being alone has increased my adrenaline seeking tendencies. That's pretty much the main reason I met you guys in the first place."
Mikey was shocked, both about the fact that there was still so much he didn't know about this girl and also at how much she could do. He knew his brothers were right about her being able to do things that no normal person usually could. Was all that she had learned really taught to her in a self-defense class? Then again, maybe there was just a lot more to the story than he knew. Either way, he still wanted to be friends with this girl and he hoped that maybe one day he would know all the details as to how she was who she was, but for now he just wanted to help make sure she got to wherever their destination was safely.
"Alright, lead the way. But I'm literally going to be right behind you! Okay?"
She nodded. "Gotcha!"
Sam was happy that he trusted her and wasn't questioning her about her past while being protective of her at the same time.
"Here, we'll be heading in this direction for a while" and with that Sam ran ahead and leaped from roof top to roof top.
For about 20 minutes the two constantly moved along the rooves of many of the buildings throughout the city. A few times there were moments where the two had to climb up or down, but overall they kept moving at a constant quick paced rate. Finally they reached a shorter building that was in a more vacant location in the city. Mikey wasn't sure what exactly this building was for or why they were there, but he was assuming that Sam's huge smile meant that something fun was in store for them.
Sam walked over to a vent and pulled open the cover. She waved her friend over and then she slipped down inside the tunnel of the vent. She pushed her hands and feet against the sides of the vent and slowly began moving down the tunnel. She would slide her feet down some, then her hands, and she continued to alternate until she was at the bottom of the tunnel. She turned back to see if Mikey was following her. He looked confused, but he was still patiently trailing behind her. She then began crawling forward, and for a few minutes or so the two continued to follow this pattern. Eventually Sam stopped and then pulled her phone out of her back pack.
"Hey, why did we stop?"
"We're above the room that controls all the security cameras throughout this building. I need to set all the cameras back a couple of hours so that no one knows we were ever here. Don't worry it will only take a few minutes and then we'll be free to move around."
He laughed. "You literally sound like Donnie right now."
"Then that means your brother must be a genius."
"Oh he is! Like he would probably freak out if he was able to talk to someone about tech stuff like this."
Sam chuckled, but she knew that would never happen. As much as she would also love to talk to someone else about technology, she knew that Donnie wanted as little to do with her as possible, just like all the remaining brothers did. But she shook her head and ignored these thoughts and went back to focusing on hacking into the buildings security system and editing the camera footage.
"Alright, time to move on. Just a bit further and then we can get out of this vent."
The two crawled forward a bit more and finally Sam opened up one of the covers in the vent. She crawled forward and turned around to face Mikey who was cautiously staying still.
"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.
"Won't there be people wondering around? I can't be seen, I can't risk exposing my brothers and putting my family in danger…"
Sam crouched down so that she was at eye level with her friend who was still in the vent tunnel.
"So I've been on my own for a long while now, and I've explored A LOT of different places, including this one. For four years I've snuck in here on weekend nights. One of the reasons being that I thought the prices for a membership here are ridiculous, and the other being that I've never had someone to bring with me. Within the four years that I've been sneaking in here I've learned that the owner closes this place early each night at about 7:00 because he doesn't want teenagers wrecking the place, since apparently young people go crazy at nighttime according to him, which honestly isn't an inaccurate thought. I mean some of the kids from school that come here are freaking insane. Anyway, the owner's house is located further towards the center of the city and it would take him a long time to get out here. Plus, since we're not in a huge crime ridden area and also since the owner doesn't really keep any money here, there's no security outside, only during work hours when this place is open. I've scoped this place out hung out here countless times and" as she knocked on the wall "I've yet to get caught. Don't worry, I wouldn't bring you here if there was a high chance of your identity being exposed."
Mikey looked up at her and smiled. He was grateful that she had put so much thought into their get together, and this also helped him in feeling more comfortable with her and in gaining his trust.
As he crawled out of the vent and stood up, his jaw dropped as he finally got to look around and see where they were. The building was much larger than just this room when looking at it from the outside which meant that there had to be many other rooms besides the one they were in, but at that moment the two friends were standing inside a huge indoor skate park. Mikey couldn't believe his eyes. As much as he loved to skate board, he had never gotten a chance to go to an actual skate park. The only way he was ever able to practice was by skating along the rounded walls and along the pipes in the sewers underground, but this place was obviously a million times better.
"Woooooow, this place is incredible!"
"Heh, I had a feeling you'd like it."
"So, are you going to show me your awesome moves?"
She gave him a blank stare. "Uhhh, I like to skate and stuff, but I'm no Tony Hawk or Rob Dydrek. Honestly I've always been more of a speed skater, I don't really know how to do tricks or anything."
"Well guess who has two thumbs and is super freaking awesome at everything related to skateboarding…THIS GUY!" he shouted as he pointed his thumbs to himself.
"Alright then Mr. Super freaking awesome, show me watcha got."
"Oh I accept that challenge ma'am!"
He then grabbed his board and began skating all throughout the various vert and mini ramps throughout the park. He quickly went around and started doing all types of tricks. Sam knew a few tricks, but honestly she had no idea what the heck any of them were called, she just practiced some stuff she saw online until she got more comfortable with it. As the two skated around, they would talk as they happened to pass each other or as they stalled on the ramps.
Sam rolled up to the top of one of the ramp and stayed still while balancing on the nose of the board.
"Hey, what happened to not knowing any tricks?" Mikey asked as he rolled up and performed the same pose next to her, and then rolled off.
Sam made a confused face. "This is a trick? All I did was stop at the top of the ramp" she stated as she followed behind him.
"Yea, but stopping at the top of the ramp has a name, that one was called a nose stall."
"Oh, so this is a nose stall?" She did the same thing, but this time she stopped on the tail of the board.
"No, that one's a tail stall, see?" as he followed behind her and repeated the same move that she just had.
"I honestly don't see a difference."
"The first time you stopped on the nose of the board, this time you stopped on the tail. Does that make sense?"
He demonstrated a few more times and eventually she finally understood.
"Okay, then does this have a name?"
She then skated to the top of the ramp and stopped with the middle part of the bottom of the board staying on the ramp. Mikey rolled up and did the same thing. "Axle stall."
The two rolled off. Sam watched as Mikey was able to hop and get his board off the ground.
"Does hopping have a name to?"
Mikey then repeated the move. "That one was an ollie, because I used the tail of the board to jump off the ground."
"Oh, oh! Okay watch this then." Sam then hopped off the ground, but this time she did so using the nose of the board. "Let me guess, was that a nollie?"
He gave her two thumbs up as he rolled by her. "There you go!"
She then watched as he rolled up to the top of a ramp and then flip the board around before riding back down.
"That was a pivot right?"
He shook his head and smiled. "Nope! Kick-flip!" as he went up another ramp and did the same thing. "Nice try though."
"Hmmmm okay, let me guess the name of this one." She then rolled up to a rail and glided across using the bottom of the board. "That was grinding, right?"
Again Mikey smiled as he shook his head. "No, THIS-" as he rolled up to the adjacent rail and glided across using the axles of the board "-Is grinding. What you did was a rail slide."
She threw her hands up in confusion. "What's the difference?"
He stopped his board and faced her. "You glided across using the deck, I used the axles."
"…what's the deck?"
He laughed. "It's just another term for the board itself. Try to grind again."
Sam then rolled up and used the back axle to glide across the rail.
Mikey cheered for her. "There you go!"
Sam looked over at him and smiled. "So, would that be a tail grind? Since I used the back axle?"
"There's no such thing as a tail grind!" he laughed "That was a 5-0 grind."
"Oh okay, so then this-" as she rolled up and used the underside of the tail of the board to glide across the rail "is called a 5-0 slide, right?"
Mikey couldn't keep himself from laughing as he shook his head. "Tail slide!"
"Then what is a 5-0 slide?"
"That doesn't exist!"
"OH MY GOD I'M DONE!" she yelled playfully as she threw her hands up in the air.
"Dude, how do you know how to do all this stuff but you don't know any of the terminology?"
"I don't know, I just go with the flow I guess. Like when people teach themselves how to play an instrument but they don't actually know all the note names."
"Fair enough, but what happened to not knowing any tricks? You've already demonstrated a bunch of them!"
"I didn't really consider these tricks, I feel like tricks are way more complicated."
"Heh, I can't wait to hear what you think the complicated moves are named."
"I REPEAT I'M DONE!" she playfully shouted, and just as she did so, her board slid out from under her. She stumbled and fell back, but they both were able to see her board go flying straight up into the air and then land perfectly right into a bag-less trash can.
"Goalllllll!" she shouted!
"Ayeee cowabunga!" he shouted as he sat down at the top of one of the mini ramps.
She looked over at him as she quickly ran up the ramp to retrieve her board. "Cowabunga?"
"Yea! Got a problem with it? And if you do, then you're as bad as Raph!"
She gave him a serious yet still playful look. "Okay listen up. 1. I don't have a problem with it, it was just random as hell. 2. Gee, thanks for the compliment" she said in a sarcastic tone.
"1. You're welcome! 2. I take random as a compliment ma'am."
"Well then you're also welcome for your compliment, sir. What is with guys and weird sayings anyway?"
"What other weird sayings are you used to?"
"Whenever my younger brother scored playing sports or if he got the new high score in a video game, he would always scream 'booyakasha.' What the hell is that?!"
Mikey burst out laughing which lead him to fall and roll down into the center of the ramp.
"Dude your younger brother sounds amazing!"
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled as she pulled her board out of the bin it had landed in.
For the next two hours the two friends continued to skate around, occasionally teasing Sam on her lack of knowledge when it came to skateboarding terminology. Once their time was up, the two packed up their belongings and went back to the vent where they had entered the room. They climbed their way back to the vent opening on the roof, making sure to alter all the cameras again before they left. Since neither of the two were really in a rush, they decided to walk back to the apartment, talking the entire way back as they continued to get to know each other.
"Hey Sam, when's your birthday?"
"April 4th."
"Oh! So you just recently turned 16 then?"
"Yup! How about you? When's your birthday?"
"February 2nd."
"So you're not that far behind me then. You were born in 99 though, right?"
"Yea, how about you?"
"98, so I'm not that much older than you guys, oh, assuming that you guys all have the same birthday."
"We do actually. Donnie looked into what he could find from the old files that April could find on us from the TCRI experiments and we all actually are blood related and were born the exact same day and in the order that we thought. When we were kids, there were times when we were curious about whether we all actually were related to each other or not since physically we have similarities, like how me and Leo have the exact same eye color and then Raph's match Donnie's spot on, but personality wise each of us are so different. There were also times when we weren't sure who was actually the oldest. For example, Donnie can sometimes be wise and calm like Leo, plus he's been the tallest of us four for a long time now, so we all wondered if he could actually be one of the oldest of us four. There were other times where we wondered if Raph was the oldest because he's always been the strongest. But regardless of these curious thoughts, somehow our instincts helped us know who was really the oldest to youngest, but it was nice to officially know that we are all blood related and the order of our births though."
Sam smiled as she looked over at him. She was walking along his left side, so she was able to see his left shoulder where his shell tattoo was.
"I still can't believe you have that."
"What?" he said tilting his head to the side.
"A tattoo. Like, I just can't believe you guys learned how to do all that, and they look really good to!"
"Dawwww you're to kind miss."
"Do your brothers have any? And who printed them?"
"Oh yeah! Leo has another shell tattoo like this on his right arm, and he also has a tattoo on his left bicep of turtles in a row with lines above and below them. The one on his bicep is a design that he made when he was younger so the design means a lot to him. Raph has a shell tattoo on his shoulder to, but of course the design is a bit different because he had to go be soooo cool and be different, pfftt! Whatever" he said as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Raph printed ALL the shell tattoos, but Leo printed the one on his left bicep with a little help from Raph, and I printed the one on my wrist all by myself."
"I guess Donnie doesn't have any?"
"He does actually! He has a smaller shell tattoo like this one on the top of his left shoulder, he just has so much gear on all the time that you can never see it."
"Wow, just from what you've told me this past week, I thought he would be a total health freak and wouldn't let a needle anywhere near his skin."
Mikey chuckled. "You're spot on when you say that, that's why he ONLY has the shell tattoo, and it's the smallest of all four of our shell tattoos. But we've all seen the shell tat as a symbol that represents our family, that's the sole reason he allowed it. The rest of us have at least one other, but he would only allow that one."
"So then what's the meaning of this one?" I asked as I pointed to the cursive writing on his left wrist.
"Honestly that was a mix of me being extremely proud of myself both for learning how to print my own tattoo AND for learning how to write in cursive. Our dad taught us…basically everything we've ever really learned, but I was always the last one to really understand anything, so this tattoo was pretty much me rewarding and praising myself for learning the two skills."
"That's really cool" I said with a beaming smile. "I love hearing stories about meaningful tattoos. Again this is just my personal opinion, but I just don't get the point in getting a ton of random tattoos, but I think meaningful tattoos are really nice. Ha, is there a reason for your brother branding kanji on his shoulder?"
"Oh no that one's is just him trying to look super cool. Like even Leo who's all for tattoos thought he was crazy for that one." We both had to cover our mouths so that we didn't laugh too loud in the middle of the night.
"Does the kanji have a relative meaning to his life or anything at least?"
He nodded. "That I can luckily say yes to. It matches the kanji on the top of his bandana."
My eyebrows rose in surprise. "I never realized he had kanji on the top of his head."
"Really? I guess you didn't notice mine then either."
"No! Where is it?"
He stopped and held the end of the left strap of his bandana so that the cloth was flat so that the kanji was visible.
"Whoa! I never noticed that until now! Do all four of you have this as well?"
"Yup! Leo's is on the right side near his eyes and it stands for 'patience,' Raph's kanji on his shoulder and on the top of his bandana reads 'anger' and the kanji on his right strap reads 'beast,' Donnie's kanji on his left strap stands for 'bright' and he also has a small turtle print above it, and then MINE stands for 'heart' which I have a lot of because I'm just incredibly amazing. I guess I should also point out that there's kanji painted on the back of my shell as well."
"NO THERE'S NOT!"
"SHHHH!"
"Dude…I swear I've been living under a rock. How have I not noticed any of this?!"
"Because you weren't looking for it, but now you are!"
"Wow, I was not expecting this Psychology 101 type of info today. I was un-prepared."
"Hehe, oh hey there's a ladder coming up, if you put my board in your bag then I can carry you up."
I nodded as he handed me his board. It was as I was securing his board to the straps on the back of my bag that I noticed the writing on the back of his shell for the first time. I hopped up onto his back as I carefully swung my arms around his neck and held on as he climbed up the ladder to the roof of the building.
"So what does it stand for then?"
"Mine stands for 'child,' a perfect fit for me if I do say so myself" he chuckled.
"Mine? So your brothers have spray paint on their shells as well?"
"Leo and Raph do. Leo has 'honor' painted in blue on his shell, and Raph has 'family' in red on the back of his. Hehe, Leo can write in Japanese perfectly, but when it comes to paint he just can't keep himself from making mistakes, so don't tell anyone this, but because I had to paint the kanji on Raph's shell I secretly wrote 'Mikey's the best' in really small Japanese characters in brown on his shell in a really hard to see spot."
"Damn, and I thought branding kanji into your skin was badass, but this totally tops everything you've said about your brothers! But don't worry your secret is safe with me."
As we reached the top of the building, he put me down and put his knuckles out for a fist bump. "Thanks bruh."
I returned the gesture. "Cowabunga!"
"Booyakasha!"
It only took a few more minutes and the two had reached the apartment. It had gotten pretty late by the time they returned home, time passing by much quicker since they made the decision to walk home. The last few minutes continued to be filled with nothing but kind and humorous conversation between the two friends, both enjoying the others company. Mikey slowly began to notice that Sam asked a lot more questions and did a lot more listening than making comments about her own family and life, but he also assumed this was because he was a giant mutant turtle. Most people would probably want to talk more about that than everyday life. Once they reached the apartment the two said their goodbyes and decided to call it a night, but both couldn't wait for the following night, hoping that they would get to hangout and have another great night goofing off together just like they had tonight.