Under the Shining Lights

Balance

"Okay, I might need to dip early from class to make it back in time for patrol, and then if I'm good about it..."

"Jeez, hearing your schedule stresses me out!" Otto groaned, lazily draped over Duru's sofa, "How do you do it?"

"I manage," Leo said, putting his phone away and grabbing a handful of M&M's, "Besides, after I make it through this week, I get to go on a date with Ichi!"

Leo's friends all ooo'd and giggled, the turtle turning a little pink. After their previous date, Yuichi and Leo had been texting and calling non-stop and flirting at the club, and soon they had scheduled another date. In the meantime, Leo had invited Yuichi to the studio, where he met Leo's friends. They all had a great time teasing Leo as he watched his boyfriend participate in class, making him more flustered than he already was.

He couldn't help it! Seeing firsthand how strong Yuichi was, how he looked sweating in skimpy clothes. Seriously, his usual outfits concealed way too much of him in Leo's opinion. In his tight shorts and tank top, Leo could examine almost every inch of his sweaty furry body, his bulking biceps, his toned calves, his bulge- ahem. Leo gained a lot of core memories that day.

"I've been looking forward to this!" Leo gushed, "I've only seen him at work or Hueso's. I miss him,"

"Quit bragging!" Signey chuckled, "You're making me jealous!"

"I'm sorry! I'm just excited!" Leo giggled, "He invited me over to watch movies!"

Otto whistled and patted Leo on the shoulder.

"Congrats on getting some!" He laughed. Leo frowned.

"Getting what?" His friends gave him weird looks, which only confused him more.

"Do you not know what it means to be invited over for 'movies'?" Signey asked, watching as Leo shook his head, "Well..."

.

Raph wasn't used to talking to many people outside of his family and neither was Mona, it appeared. The two had had a couple of one-word text conversations, mostly just about what their siblings were up to. Soon, though, they graduated from one-word conversations to full sentences, then to detailed paragraphs. Anything more than that would be too much for texts, so they started calling each other. It was an awkward transition, but they got the hang of it. 

They had a lot of similarities. Both were older siblings, both had an interest in wrestling, and both had a similar sense of style. Raph found himself growing more attached to Mona, and dare he say it, attracted to her. At some point, Mona mentioned that she needed to buy some new clothes, to which she invited Raph to join her.

So, now Raph was at the cafe where they first met, waiting for Mona to arrive. He was surprisingly nervous. What if she didn't like something he suggested? What if she wanted to pick out stuff for him? What if she looked really good and Raph got flustered? Why was he so worried about embarrassing himself? He had gone as far as putting on his best outfit! (A red flannel with a black undershirt and jeans)

"Hey," The voice of his worries greeted, "You're early,"

"Yeah, I got worried," Raph said, more honest than he intended, "I-I mean! I was worried about being late! So I came early!"

"I see," Mona hummed, helping Raph out of his seat, "Same,"

At that, Raph checked the time, seeing that it was still fifteen minutes before the time they agreed to meet. He chuckled.

"Another thing we have in common, huh?" Raph and Mona started walking down the street toward the store Mona mentioned, "Say, why do you need new clothes?"