I felt my body get lifted and my eyes fluttered open. "Hm?"
"April called me to take her place here because she was leaving to get groceries." Leo quickly and nervously explained.
"Okay." I stretched, still in his arms.
"You were asleep at the table." He told me, half expecting an explanation.
"Where we goin'?" I groggily asked.
"Wh-Where do you want to go?"
"I'm awake now." I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "So, probably just the couch. Or the bathroom. I gotta brush my teeth."
"Bathroom, here we come." He quickly pivoted on his heel and set me on my feet slowly.
"What's the fare for the ride?" I jokingly reached in my pajama pocket.
"H-Huh?" He put his hands up.
"I'm joking, Leo." I smiled softly. "Did you just wake up as well?"
"Kinda. I was the only one conscious enough to answer the phone."
"I was fine on my own." I closed the bathroom door and began to change into clothes I'd hung on the towel rack the day before.
"I think it's for medical reasons? April was 99% sure you were dead. I mean, I've never seen anyone fall asleep at the table." He snorted.
"Hey, man. Rough night." I put my hair into two low ponytails, but left my messy bangs out, then started to brush my teeth.
"How rough?" He asked curiously.
"Do you really wanna know?"
"I mean, sure. I am the so-called King of Stress. I can probably relate to what's troubling you."
"I forgot I called you that." I opened the door, so that I could hear his thoughts on the situation. She looks like a little librarian! "Wow, didn't think that'd be the first thought I heard when I opened this."
"S-Sorry." He cleared his face.
"Do I really?" I ran a lint roller over the oversized and thick turtleneck. It was an ash brown, and paired with a jean skirt.
"It's not a bad thing."
"I love libraries. I used to volunteer at them all the time. I guess I picked up what the old ladies were puttin' down. Y'know? I took it as a compliment. No worries, Blue."
"Yeah." He smiled. "You just need the round glasses they wear."
"Oh, you're gonna flip if you open that glasses case on the coffee table."
"Really?" He picked it up and opened it. She's gotta put these on. His eyes flicked back to me and he held them out.
"Okay, okay." I picked them up and put them on. "My vision isn't too bad to the point where I need them all day, everyday. But, I do need them for reading, watching TV, and driving."
"Keep them on today. You look great." He said nodding.
"Wow, the things you guys say and think are gonna inflate my ego tenfold." I stared at myself in the mirror with a little confidence as I put on lip gloss. "Is this what it's like to have friends? I might not leave." Don't. My head whipped his direction.
"I enjoy your company." He scratched his arm.
"You know, you're not too tough to get along with. Raphael was wrong about you." I felt a blush rise to my cheeks.
"He thinks I'm tough to get along with?"
"I think it's because you two are exact opposites. He's very impulsive and you're very premeditated. I think if you two found something you both care about and are willing to talk about and work toward, you'd get along much better."
"Hey, don't go talking about us. You said we'd talk about you." He mock-scolded.
"Oh right. It's about my mom." I strolled out the bathroom and threw myself on the couch. Oh. I rolled my eyes. "Hard to talk about, huh?"
"No, not at all actually." He sat me up so he could sit next to me. "We never really knew our mother either. Er... Mothers."
"Wait, what?"
"We have two, kind of. The one who's a non-mutant turtle got left at the pet store. The human one who passed away, she was killed by our adoptive uncle in a fire." He pursed his lips.
"And the human one, she was married to your Sensei?"
"Yes. You've yet to meet him, right?"
"Yeah. But I'll take all the time I can get to prepare. You four talk about him with such high regards, it's like meeting royalty."
"He gets back from Japan in a week." Leo paused and laughed. "He tends to be soft on the girls we bring home."
"Ooh. You bring home girls?" I elbowed him. Shit, shit, shit.
"N-No! I meant April and our long lost sister."
"Easy there. Twas but a joke." I chuckled.
"Mikey's the flirt of the family. The rest of us are hopeless. Really makes you wonder how Donnie was the first to get a girlfriend."
"Be nice."
"No, really! There's not a romantic bone in any of our bodies. We're so clueless. Mikey grew up watching those Japanese dramas with dad and now he's out w-"
"Wait! Donnie has a girlfriend?" I covered my mouth.
"Did April not tell you? They've been dating since 2017."
"Jeez. That's a long time." I crossed my arms. "I'm the only single one."
"It feels like that sometimes, yeah."
"Hey, at least we don't have to worry about stupid holidays like Valentines day. We, the singles, live off of the 50% off candy the day after."
"That's a thing?"
"You shitting me? Of course it's a thing! You, me, Raph, Mikey. All of us hit up the stores for half off candy February 15th. Even if I'm gone by then, I'll come back to pick you all up and we're going." I held my hand out to him. "Deal?"
"Deal."
"Okay!"
