Life of stone. (tmnt mikey 2012)

Indulgence of pestilence.

"See ya later..."

And with that he was off to his best friend's home.

Michelangelo loved Leatherhead and his company, what he didn't love was the walk to his place. The walk there was cold... every other step sent a shiver up his toes and into the rest of him, It was uncomfortable.

And if he walked instead of ran, which wasn't often. The shadows stretched out among the concrete sky and ground make him so aware of how many little creatures were there to stare at him.

Rats with beady little pink eyes glared at him and twitched their noses in disgust as he walked by, Long yellow malnourished hands reaching out the shadows, accompanied by bright eyes with black veins and pupils, shaving and having too much definition. bugs with millions of tickling itching little legs ran above and below him, looking for a warm host brain to lay their eggs into.

Michelangelo shivered and decided to also run this time to Leatherhead's cart, it was safer that way.  As he made his way to his destination, Leatherhead's face poked out.

The alligator seemed to always know when Michelangelo was coming, and the turtle thought that was soooo sweet of him! Maybe a bit suspicious at times- but with the senses that alligators had and the strength of their bond... he trusted it made sense. It's not like Leatherhead had anything to hide. He was too honest.

"Hey big guy! You hungry?"
He took the tupper of still warm empanadas and handed them to Leatherhead who sat them down on a broken desk and hugged Michelangelo gently, in fear of hurting him if he were to squeeze any tighter.

"I have missed you greatly my friend.. and your cooking as well!"
Michelangelo laughed with his big buddy and cuddled into him before pulling away.
"Well try these dude! My empanadas will blow your mind with how yummalicious they are dude! You'll never quit missing these!"

As Leatherhead dug in, he could eat one whole pastry in a single bite. And he of course shared them with his friend who had created the treats.
"Mmm these are truly delicious. I do wish you had made them more often."
"No way! They need so many ingredients, so it's a special treat that you got your claws on right there!"
Leatherhead looked down at the last piece of food in his hands curiously.

"Ah, I see. It is too bad that it requires so much effort."
"Yeah dude, i cook so much i feel kinda like one of those housewives in those old movies! At this point you should just marry me!"
The two filled the cart with laughter at the joke, Mikey snorting like a relative of bebop if anything.

"It would not be a bad idea if it meant i got much more of your delightful cooking, and time together."
Mikey grinned, feeling proud of his chef and friendship skills.
"So Leatherhead, how have you been sleeping dude?"

He smiled up at Leatherhead, hoping he hadn't had any nightmares or anything recently... and wondering if he were the only one losing sleep.
"I have been sleeping well, not having many dreams, but that is for the best."
"Good, you gotta stay nice and rested to stay strong and energized!"
Mikey flexed his bicep with a grin, Leatherhead just tilted his head like a confused cat and did the gesture back.

"There ya go! You look totally hulking, my man!"
Mikey smiled and went to take a bite of the pastry he had left to warm up his hands in preference to talk to his friend. Only for his face to turn sour as he scrunched up his snout.

He looked down at the empanada in his hands and almost threw up immediately. He had just bitten into a writing colony of centipedes and worms, pill bugs and snails crawling down his fingers. He started to gag and spit out his bite of food in an instant, dropping the empanada and shaking his hands to get them free of the bugs.

Leatherhead looked concerned as his friend twitched and hacked up spit and cooked dough.
"What is wrong, Michelangelo?"
"Bugs! Bugs in my mouth- in the food! Eww!"
Michelangelo shivered as he was free of insects but still felt like something was crawling around in his veins just under his scales.

As Leatherhead looked around he saw that there were no creepy crawlies around, he gently put his hand on Michelangelos shoulders to try and calm him.
"There are no bugs, my friend..."

Mikey looked up at him as if he was crazy.
"Huh- but i saw... i don't know how they got in there..."
He looked at his abandoned treat to find only the slime of melted candy's inside. No insects at all, no maggots slithering and crawling down his throat.

"Guess my eyes were playing tricks on me- sorry i almost threw up all over the place."
Mikey was assured all was fine by his friend.

If only he felt fine...