𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚒𝚗'𝚝 𝚊 𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍.

Chapter XVIII

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈

Catching Up
——————

"So, you make any friends yet?"

Charlotte asked, sitting on the couch with her mouth full of spicy instant noodles; James sat next to her with his own bowl of noodles sitting on the table.

"Only one—but he doesn't go to my school—and we kinda' met by accident." The boy explained.

He didn't think about his reply much; his attention was more focused on the slight burning on his face from the peel-off mask he had applied just a minute prior, that and he was trying not to make his couch look like a murder scene from the hair dye he had setting on his head—sure he had a plastic bag over it but it's always better to be careful.

"Who is this boy? Have I met him before?" The woman asked side glancing the child.

"Probably not." James took a moment to think of an excuse of why; clearly he couldn't just say "he's a mutant turtle" and his legal caretaker just be cool with it.

"He's self conscious and doesn't get out much, I think he lives in the apartment across the street." James picked up his bowl and stated eating again.

Not many people know—but if he tells you something then randomly starts eating or drinking something he probably fibbed, he didn't even know why he did this himself—but it's probably to buy time to think up a believable lie if his first one didn't work out; it's rude to talk with your mouth full after all.

"I see, then how did you meet him?" Charlotte questioned turning her full attention to the boy who slouched down as he ate.

He finished the portion in his mouth before replying.

"He likes birdwatching and I guess he might have peered into the window or something when I was having a breakdown." He took a moment to readjust his position previous to continuing his story. "He got my number somehow and texted to see if I was okay, he's cool though—I mean, it was a little weird at first but he's cool."

The woman looked confused, James almost thought that she didn't believe him till she asked "What is he self conscious about? Im sure he's a nice boy."

"He was born with six fingers and a spinal abnormality, he said that he got bullied for it when he went to school so his mom teaches him now."

He technically didn't lie about half of it; he did only have six fingers and turtles have their shells fused with their spines which is kind of abnormal in a human sense.

"Poor kid, what's his name?"

"Donatello, ya' know, like the famous sculptor—Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi?"

He got a weird look from that—in fact Charlotte looked at him like he had just said he liked raisins, and he looked back as if waiting for a reply—a child-like innocence gleaming in his eyes.

"Right... shouldn't you rinse that off now?" Clearly she was trying to change the subject.

James couldn't tell.

He, however, nodded and got up to shower for the second time that day leaving Charlotte to pick a movie to watch while she waited.

When James got into the bathroom he realized he forgot to tell a certain mutant turtle about his unprompted decision to colour or cut his hair, he promised himself that he'd tell Donnie about it after his shower...

But he got distracted by the bloody-murder that occurred after he started rinsing his newly chopped hair, choosing bright red hair colour might have been the best decision of his life or the worst; he wasn't sure yet.

-

"So, this guy is, like, your best friend now?" Mikey asked Donnie who sat on the floor in front of him.

"Yes and you can't tell anyone about him, especially not April." Donnie was being serious.

"Why 'especially not April'? You got a crush on this new guy or something?" Mikey was being serious if the tone of his voice hinted T anything.

It went quiet for a full minute before Donnie replied to that.

"No."

He said that so flatly it made both him and his brother question if he really meant that; naturally Donnie had to convince himself he really didn't have feelings for the human boy in some way.

"No, why would I have feelings for a guy like that—I mean, it's not like I thought about kissing him or even holding his hand, sure we hugged a few times and he respects my opinions and listens to me when I need to rant about something—anything, and sure he wants to spend time with me when my own significant other can't but that's what friends are for, right?"

Mikey just looked at his older brother blankly.

"Dude, you lost me."

Donnie sighed and rested his head in his hand that was sitting on his upturned knee. "I know."

He turned his eyes away from Mikey prior to speaking more.

"I guess I'm just a little sour because April doesn't spend time with me as much as she did when we were just friends."

"What are you guys talking about?" Leo asked appearing out of no-where.

Donatello flinched at the new presence in the room and slowly turned to face his blue-banded brother who stood a few feet away with a mug in his hands.

He didn't know what to say, how much did Leo hear? Did he know about James? Wouldn't he be mad if he did find out about their friendship?

"Don-tron's having girlfriend issues." Mikey blurted not entirely spilling any information.

Leo looked to his younger brothers a little shocked. "Oh, really? Sorry to hear that."

"Thank you?" Donnie didn't know how to react to that response, should he shrug as it was nothing or should he start crying?

"You know, I'm here if you need to talk to someone about this—not saying that you can't talk to Mikey—but it might be nice to have more then one person to rely on."

The purple clothed turtle let out a small smile slip threw as he nodded in understanding. "Okay... Thanks, Leo."