☼♡ The Distant River ♡☼

<♡Chapter 3 ㊗🎧

The two tip-toed around corners and shadows of the city, Miles giving Mikey a tour of Brooklyn. He excitedly pointed to things around the city, Miles telling him what they were and what they did. 

"So, people really just leave their trash on the ground? Even though a trash can is less than two feet in front of them?" Mikey asked. Spider-man nodded. "Yup. You wanna try it?" He handed the turtle an empty soda can. "Now just drop it on the ground." 
Mikey dropped it confusedly. "No no, with passion!" 

Mikey picked it back up and threw it to the ground. Miles hummed in approval and gave him a thumbs up. "Much better."

-  -  -  -  -   

"Annnddd this is the Green-Wood cemetery! See that statue over there?" Miles pointed to a huge statue in the middle of a leafy green oasis. Mikey gasped and stared up at it. "Cool!" The two climbed on top of it and stood on its head. "Look over there! See anything?" 

Mikey looked far into the distance. "Wow, is that the statue of Puberty my brother was telling me about?!" Miles bust out laughing and almost fell over. "NOOO, THE STATUE OF LIBERTY!" 
"Ohhh..."

-  -  -  -  -

"Welcome to Bushwick, street art heaven!" They quietly explored the neighborhood, several buildings and sidewalks decorated with some of the best art skills Mikey had ever seen. His eyes sparkled with excitement as he followed Miles throughout the block, pointing out a few artworks that caught his attention. 

"Every year, on Saturdays in June, we got this thing called the Bushwick Collective. Free of charge, all we gotta do is just come down here and peek at some art. You'd love it!" Miles said. 

"I already do!" The two bounced down the sidewalk happily, Mikey marveling at more art as they went. "Some of the best artists do their art here! Sticks, Icy and Sot, Nychos, and this one dude-"

Miles turned around dramatically and put his hands together. "Lea. Thomas. My Idol! My hero! My SENSEI OF ART SENSEIS!"

Mikey gasped loudly. "He sounds so awesome!!!" 

"He is! And, get this, he's going to be judging some graffiti contest coming up next month, and I wanna enter my art in it!"  Miles spun around and pretended to faint. Mikey laughed and fell over with him. They both looked at each other and laughed. 

"So, you uh, wanna help me? It's kind of a two-person project anyways..." Miles looked at him hesitantly. Mikey smiled big and sat up quickly. "You mean it?!" 

Miles sat up too. "Y-yeah, I mean it. I mean, you seem to like doing street art and you're really great at it!" The turtle stood up. "I-I'd love to! But..." His face fell and he looked down at his hands. "My hands. They've been acting all weird, and I kinda hurt them a while ago...Even though art seems to be the only thing they can do sometimes, it's still hard. I don't want to disappoint you..."

He felt bad, feeling like he was letting the Spider-man down. Miles smiled sympathetically. "You're talented, Mikey. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but I believe you can do it!" 

Mikey thought for a moment before smiling back. "Let's do it then!"

"Great! But first, this tour isn't finished yet! C'mon, I gotta show you one more thing!"

 -  -  -  -  -   

They sat on the edge of a tall building, it's glass windows showing Mikey's reflection. He gasped and stared into it curiously. "This is Brooklyn Heights, one of my favorite places to just...sit." 

The moonlight illuminated the city in all its glory, leaving them both admiring it in silence. They swung their feet in the air, Miles pointing out different landmarks to him. "There's the One World Trade, the statue of Liberty again...Oh look, there's the Jenga building!"

Mikey smiled and pointed to something. "What do you guys call that?" 

"Oh, that's just the Brooklyn Bridge." Mikey sighed. "I like that the most!"

Miles' mask eyes raised in confusion. "Out of all the things I showed you, the bridge is your favorite?" 
The turtle nodded. "Yeah, it's so pretty! And shiny! And big."

Miles chuckled and shrugged. "That's fine, I guess." He pulled out his phone and earbuds. "Wanna listen to music before you have to go home?"

Mikey nodded and pointed to him. "You choose this time!"

As soon as they put the earbuds in, the turtle gasped. "I love this song!" He stood up and started dancing slowly. "H-hey, you're still connected to the phone-!" Miles stood up as well and tried to keep the cord from getting tangled, meanwhile Mikey was just vibing. "Michael Jackson is too good, how could I not dance??!"

Mikey took his hands and spun around, making Miles join in the dance. In the moonlight there were two dancing silhouettes, both of them stumbling now and then, but embarrassment was replaced with laughter. The Spider-man relaxed and soon willingly joined hands with Mikey, not realizing that they were practically slow-dancing. The turtle's breath hitched when his hands started shaking, they began to hurt and the cracks opened up. "S-see? They do this all the time..." 

Miles thought for a moment before grabbing gloves out of his pockets and slipping them onto his hands. "That might not last for long, but it'll help for now." Mikey smiled and thanked him. "It may be a little uncomfy because of my lack of five fingers, but thanks..."

 They hesitated a bit before rejoining hands, continuing to dance along to the music.