Sheraton Academy

Wanna Go For Four?

Rating: PG

Warnings: None

"What do you mean you've never seen the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?"

Cal's hands curled in the hem of his hoodie. He knew Craig was just incredulous, that his boyfriend would never yell at him, even if they were fighting. But his voice was so loud he couldn't help but flinch and start thinking he'd just done childhood wrong. He didn't remember any of the other kids being into the Ninja Turtles. Maybe it was an American thing.

"I've never even seen the first one," he mumbled.

"What?" Craig asked.

"I've never even seen the first one," Cal repeated, a little louder.

"We have to fix this," Craig said. "The Ninja Turtles were awesome. Raphael was the best, all badass and doing tricks. Whoosh! Whaa!" Craig attempted a martial arts pose to go with the sound effects, but stumbled against the wall. Cal finally broke into a smile and even chuckled a little, now that the yelling was past.

"Come over to my room after classes tomorrow," Craig said. "That'll give me time to find all three of them. Then we can have popcorn and a marathon."

Cal grinned and nodded, and they went back to their maths homework.

***

Cal was curious about these movies, whether they were cartoons or live action or what, because while he was familiar with the reboot thanks to the internet, he didn't know anything about the original franchise. That was long before the internet was even a thing, and he'd been in and out of so many psychiatric hospitals over the course of his childhood, the only cartoons he was really familiar with were what they played there. The rest of the time, he was too busy trying to keep up a manageable front to bother with telly.

He'd been tempted to look them up, but didn't want to spoil Craig's surprise, so he kept his curiosity under his thumb and distracted himself with schoolwork and classes.

Then, finally, it was time to see these amazing movies.

As they curled up on Craig's bed with his laptop, Craig said, "The turtles and Splinter are all by Jim Henson's creature shop. You know Jim Henson, right?"

"Of course!" Cal said. "Fraggle Rock! Dance your cares away!" He clapped twice as he rolled onto his back. And of course he was also familiar with Sesame Street and the Muppets. He'd lived an isolated childhood, but he hadn't been under a rock the whole time.

The first film, Cal and Craig laid on their stomachs side by side, eyes wide on the laptop like two little boys seeing it for the first time. The movie was dated, and it hadn't aged well – the hair and clothes were incredibly nineties, and Cal often had to ask Craig what the slang meant. But it was enjoyable, and sometimes that was all one could ask of a movie. As the credits rolled, Craig shrank down the video window and clicked over to the player so he could drag the second file in.

This was it. This was the film Craig had been screaming about. It was going to be brilliant.

Cal waited, an expectant smile on his lips. It started off... not good. It was also dated, but not in the charming way the first one was. It was cheesy. The jokes were horrible. The puppets were still great, but that was all it had going. But Cal waited patiently, because if Craig had thought it was so wonderful, it would get better.

But it didn't. It got cheesier and stupider and more and more ridiculous. Cal's smile faded, and he glanced over at Craig. He had a frowny pout on his face, and his brows were furrowed, as if someone had just told him Santa Claus wasn't real.

"I don't remember it being like this," he finally said. "I remember it being..." He made a big gesture with his hands that Cal somehow understood perfectly. This was brilliant when I was little, but now it's horrible. That's what that hand gesture said.

"I feel the same way about Bob the Builder," Cal sighed. He nodded sagely and closed his eyes as Craig paused the video. "I thought it was the greatest thing ever when I was little. But now I look at and I'm like, why did I ever like this?"

"I don't even want to watch the third one anymore," Craig sighed. "I want to keep it preserved in my memory as something beautiful."

Cal chuckled, hiding his mouth behind his hands.

"Well," Craig said. He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, then over toward Cal. A tiny smirk played across his lips. "We have about three hours of time scheduled before we have to start on our homework. Big empty slot. What should we do with it?"

Cal blushed, but he grinned. "You could always kiss me," he said.

"For three hours?" But Craig was already scooting closer, knocking their shoulders together as he tilted his head closer.

"You say that like we haven't done it before," Cal chuckled.

Craig slung an arm over Cal's shoulder and Cal lifted his own so his boyfriend could roll underneath him.

Craig grinned. "Wanna go for four?"