Tragedy Ever After

Nervousness

        ~Normal POV~

     This was terrible. It was Sunday; Sunday meant shopping. Usually, April would go out and get me anything I needed for the apartment, but we weren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment. I would have to go out on my own and deal with people's stares, and their taunts when I couldn't communicate properly.

     I looked over to the turtle who sat peacefully on the couch, flipping through random channels while I silently panicked beside him. I couldn't ask him to go with me. What if people saw him? Would they call both of us freaks?

     "Y/n?" Don's voice broke me from my thoughts. I hadn't realized my vigorously bouncing leg or the way I was scratching my arm raw until the mutant carefully grabbed my wrist. "What's wrong?"

     "I'm supposed to go shopping today," I admitted quietly. "I've never gone alone. Either April does it or I would go with her. I can't do that anymore. And I'm not good at communicating with people, they always think I'm rude cause I can't keep eye contact, or I mumble or--"

     "Hey, it'll be okay. What if I go out with you?" he offered gently. "I won't let anyone make fun of you, I promise."

     "What if they're mean to you?" I whispered.

     "I grew up with three brothers and an April," he pulled back from me with a confident grin. "I can deal with some stupid strangers. I can blend in pretty well when I wear human clothes, as long as I can hide my face."

     "You can borrow my purple hoodie," I smiled as I offered up the clothing item. "I'll wear my zip-up. . . How do we hide the rest of you?" I hummed and his brows furrowed.

     "What's wrong with the rest of me?" he sounded offended.

     "Nothing!" I quickly spouted out. "Nothing is, but other people might not think like that. C'mon, I took out a bunch of clothes I don't wear, maybe some will fit you."

     I led the turtle to my room, showing off the abundance of clothes that I never really wore and that I hoped would fit him all right. A lot of it was from me having a sort of cyberpunk phase, and it seemed like it would fit Don's vibe.

     He sorted through the clothes before finally finding an outfit he liked. He wouldn't let me get a look until he got changed. "How do I look?" his fingers fiddled with one of the strings to his 'brand' shirt that was pulled over a dark hoodie. He was wearing black pants with chains dangling off of them, as well as a dark satchel hooked around him.

     "You look so cool!" I continued to look over his outfit in awe. "Can I ask something weird?" Don nodded at me. "Can I paint your nails? I can do both of ours and they can be matching purple!" my hands started flapping excitedly at the idea.

     "Yeah, I guess," he smiled softly and I took off to find my nail polish. It had been a while since I had painted my nails or someone else's, so I hoped it would turn out all right.

     I guided Don to sit across from me and I took his hand to get better access to his nails. They were a bit bigger than a normal human nail seeing as his fingers were slightly larger than mine, but he only had three. I worked carefully so I wouldn't get too much polish on his skin, and it turned out pretty decently.

     "What do you think?" I asked with a smile.

     "What's the purpose of it?" Don asked as he looked over my work.

     "It just looks cool, or pretty," I deflated slightly. "I can take it off if you don't like it," I looked away from him, trying to hide the fact I was a little upset he didn't seem impressed with it.

     "I like it," he quickly spoke and I turned back to see him smiling. "It's just. . . new. I didn't mean to upset you," so much for trying to hide it. "Would you like me to do yours?" I nodded at his suggestion.

     One of his hands took mine as he began to work carefully as I had. His tongue stuck out as he concentrated on not getting too much polish on my skin either. Soon, we both had matching nails and it made me grin. That feeling of nervousness I had had faded.

     "Why can't we always have moments like this?" I asked quietly to the mutant in front of me. "Acting like the world around us doesn't exist?"

     "'Cause not everyone keeps on those rose-colored glasses," Don hummed back. "But, they look good on you. Please never change."

     "I won't."

        ~Donnie's POV~

     I don't know why I asked them to never change. I was trying to make them. I was trying to mold them into the perfect assistant for me. Yet, something about them already seemed so perfect.

     "Shall we get going?" I stood up, wanting to get away from this soft scene.

     "Oh, right," Y/n mimicked my actions. "Uh, let me get changed and we can go," I left the young adult in their room to do what they needed to do. I looked down at my hand at the purple polish that coated my nails.

     They looked so sad when I didn't immediately say I liked it. I just saw no purpose in the colorful sheen, but I had to keep them happy. Something about me loved how their face lit up when I told them I liked it, how happy they were when I offered to paint their nails as well.

     "Okay, I'm ready!" they popped out of their room in a grey zip-up and a pair of joggers. The hoodie was slightly unzipped to show off the number I really did on them.

     They made their way to the door, slipping on a pair of shoes as well as a small bag that I assumed held their wallet. "You can pick out anything you want, too, while we're out," Y/n told me as they pulled the door open, holding it for me to go out first.

     "Anything?" I echoed while they shut the door and locked it, stuffing their keys into their bag.

     "Well, as long as it isn't super overpriced, okay?" my human rephrased their offer.

     "Okay," I agreed as we left the apartment. It was nice to not see them as nervous as they were before. I was glad I could be the cure.

     Word Count: 1,103. Hi. I would like to apologize for deleting, like, 9 chapters. I wasn't happy with them, so I'm trying again. Sorry to those of you who liked that story line, I just wasn't too thrilled with where it was headed. Enjoy!