Are You Sure I'm Not A Villain?

18

(this chapter is going to have a little bit more angst in it, so beware I guess)

Casey watched as Kai disappeared into the night. He smiled to himself, quickly realizing and frowning. What were these emotions that he was feeling? He was just hanging out with his friend. He picked up a loose piece of concrete from the ground laying next to some empty glass bottles. He tossed it up in the air a few times, catching it with one hand. He threw the rock up a little too high and it didn't come back down.

Casey looked up, seeing a green hand clutching the concrete and tossing it in its own hand. Casey groaned as Raphael jumped down from the roof of the ice rink. The red turtle smirked, his three-fingered hands clutching his belt like an old man. The other four turtles jumped down after him, different looks on their faces. Mikey was always kinda funny looking, so his odd expression didn't concern Casey too much. Leo looked concerned, crossing his arms in an intimidating manner. Donnie just had a blank look on his face and leaning on his staff. It took Casey a lot to be intimidated by the turtles, considering the only one who was taller than him was Donatello, standing at a strong six feet tall. Casey basically towered over the others, but with their skill in ninjutsu and their overall demeanor, he certainly felt intimidated by them that night.

"What are you guys doin' here?" Casey asked, scuffing his feet along the cement.

"Oh, nothing," Leonardo said. "Just going out on patrol when we noticed you and that boy sneaking out of the ice rink."

"Y-you saw that?" Casey asked.

"Yep," Raph added, accentuating the p.

"What were you doing in there with him?" Leo asked.

"Nothin'," Casey answered quickly. "I was jus' teaching 'im to skate."

"You couldn't have done that any other time besides in the middle of the night?"

"He has strict parents," Casey explained. "They keep him busy during the day and he has ta sneak out at night ta hang out."

Donatello rolled his eyes. "Strict parents and sneaking out don't belong in the same sentence, Casey."

"Says you," Casey retorted. "Ya guys snuck out all the time. We wouldn't have met if ya hadn't snuck out of the lair."

Leo scoffed. "What we are trying to say, Casey, is that we don't trust him."

"How would ya know anything 'bout him?" Casey asked.

The mutant turtles' eyes wandered, not daring to look at Casey. Casey gasped in surprise.

"You're stalkin' us?" He exclaimed.

"Look," Raph said, trying to calm the human down. "We didn't mean for it to be invading your privacy or nothing, just--"

"Ya didn't mean for it to invade ma privacy?" Casey said, anger starting to rise and New York accent becoming stronger as he spoke. "Wha' 'bout his, huh? He don't know none of ya exist and ya know lots 'bout him. Tha's illegal ya know."

"Look, bud," Raph said, stalking towards Casey. "I don't know why you are defending him. He's obviously untrustworthy and we don't trust him. Can't you just listen to us for once about something."

"We're trying to help," Leo interjected in a softer voice.

Casey felt his rage bubble over. It was always hard being the turtles' friend because he couldn't tell anyone that they existed. He had no photos of them, not even in his phone. It was a precautionary measure, Donatello had said. To protect them and keep Casey safe from their enemies. Casey was stuck in their rules all the time. He wasn't ever able to be his own vigilante anymore because they would always find him, they would always follow him. He was stuck in their shadow until he left New Your, which everyone knew was never going to happen. He clenched his hands at his sides and felt his nails pierce into his palms. His hands shook.

"HELP ME?" he shouted. "All ya've been doing is invading ma life and makin' me live in the shadows! I'm not like you guys. I'm not a mutant! I get to decide ma ow' life, not ya guys. If I have a human friend, you wan' to take them away from me. I can't jus' be friends with ya guys, ya know. I have a separate life from you guys."

"Casey," Leonardo said. "Just calm down. I know we went too far--"

"Yeah, ya did!" Casey shouted. "Ya know what? I'm done."

"Done with what?" Mikey asked. He had been surprisingly quiet the whole conversation, not talking at all but just staring out into space. Casey wasn't sure why, but Mikey butting into the conversation made him even more angry.

"Done with ya all!" Casey shouted, waving his arms sporadically in the air. "I'm sick of it an' I'm just... done." He ended with a slight crack in his voice, watching as the turtles' eyes softened with sadness and guilt. Leonardo reached towards him.

"Casey, we didn't know," he said.

"Don' touch me," Casey said, shuffling backwards from the mutants. "Just... leave me alone. And don' ya dare touch my friends."

Casey set his shoulders in a square and stomped away, not sparing a glance behind him. To tell the truth, he was surprised that Raph had not yelled back at him. Maybe the mutant had known that they were in the wrong, that they were in fact, being controlling. But he was also sad that they didn't come after him.

It didn't matter.

He didn't need them anyway.

***

Kai snuck back through his window of the cathedral and plopped to the floor of his bedroom. His eyes landed on the open door of his bedroom He was sure that he had closed it on his way out earlier that night, before he had gone to meet Casey. He slowly stood up, spinning in a circle, inspecting the corners of his room for any threat that may be lurking in the darkness. He didn't see anything. His nerves were still on edge as he relaxed and walked into the bathroom to check there. Again, nothing.

This was his life. A life of fear, constantly searching the corners of his bedroom, watchful for his father or one of his followers to come and punish him for hanging out with a friend. Although, were they still only considered friends? They had only met a few days ago and already went on a so-called "date" in the middle of the night, alone, together. What was their relationship? Kai didn't want to think about it anymore, as he would just spiral into a bout of overthinking.

He leaned on the counter, looking at his reflection in the small mirror hanging above. His colorless eyes staring back at him, boring into his soul. He reached for his washcloth and wet it with makeup remover, something that no one was to know about, no matter how close to family they were. He scrubbed at his face, the concealer and foundation slowly coming off. He rinsed his face and looked at his reflection over the towel.

Scars lined his face from his adventures as his father's lackey. They weren't noticeable with the makeup on, although still shining through dully. No one would notice unless they carefully studied his face, like Casey had earlier when they were ice skating. He panicked, thinking that if Casey knew....

Casey wouldn't know.

He didn't know who Kai really was. There was no evidence pointing at him saying that he was the turtles' enemy. Besides, even if the turtles did tell Casey about him, Casey was never there during any of their fights.

He couldn't know.

If Casey knew, their relationship would be ruined. They weren't far along, but Kai already knew that he wanted-- no, needed Casey in his life. How else would he have any contact with the human population? He was surrounded by mutants and monsters, not necessarily one in the same. He went to school, but had no one to talk to, nor anyone to talk to him. Although Kai wasn't familiar with the ways of friendship or any other sort of relationship, he still wanted to try.

He wanted to be with Casey as... friends? 

Was that was this was? Friendship?

He walked out of the bathroom and immediately collapsed on his bed. He winced at the feeling of something sharp poking at his side. He reached to the waistband of his jeans, pulling out a knife that he constantly had kept hidden. He threw the knife onto his desk, sighing.

He wondered if life would be different if he wasn't Shredder's son.