Together As Mutants (Book Six)

Chapter 33: Taylor's First Mutant Mission

"Aw, yeah! Take this, and this! Oh, and how about three of these?"

On the lair TV screen, an old-school video game plays. Raphael, Taylor, and April watch Donatello and Casey face off, mostly silent. The gameplay isn't exactly high-energy. Casey's character takes down Donatello's character and, with a victorious beep, Casey gets to his feet.

"Yes! And the winner is...Casey Jones!" He waves his controller in the air, pumping his fist. He turns to Donatello and laughs. "Cha-ching!"

Donatello throws his controller down with a huff. "Aw, these kinds of games are stupid," he complains. "I'm more into a modern, fully-immersive 3D experience." He presses his finger to the side of his head, still eyeing Casey's smug smirk.

"I'll give you a fully-immersive P-D experience!" Michelangelo hollers from the turnstiles, a stack of pizza in hand.

Taylor cringes. "Tried it already. Not a fan."

"Hold on, Tay-Tay, you gotta give this one a chance!" Michelangelo laughs. "P as in pizza, and D...as in delicious!" He tosses a pizza to Donatello, another to Casey, and another hits the floor and slides over to Raphael. "Yeah, boyyy!"

Raphael scoops up the pizza, brow furrowing as he eyes the four other boxes in Michelangelo's hand. "What, this is all we get, Mikey? And you keep the rest?" His frown deepens. "What about the others? They need to eat too."

Michelangelo flops down, smirking. "You're right, bro. I'm being greedy."

He opens up the top box, pulls out a slice of pepperoni pizza, and tosses it. It lands on Raphael's face, making Taylor snort into her hand, and Raphael glares at him. He pulls the pizza off his face and sits back, scowling.

"Remind me to smack you later," he says, going to take a bite of the pizza.

A cockroach crawls onto his hand as he's about to dig in. April's eyes widen.

"Uh, Raph?" she starts.

Raphael glances at her, then at his hand, and he lets out an ungodly shriek as he sends the pizza and the cockroach flying into the nearby pool. Taylor jumps, eyes wide, and Raphael clutches his chest as he pants a little.

"Ay! What was that?!" Taylor demands. She looks at the others, then at her boyfriend again. "Wait...uno momento..."

"Still scared of bugs, huh, Raph?" Casey asks, starting to grin.

"When they're touching my food, yeah," Raphael huffs. He shudders a little. "Creepy little buggers."

Taylor bites her lip against a smile. "You're...scared of bugs?"

He shoots her a glare. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"That!" He points at her face. "You're about to laugh! Don't laugh!"

"Okay, okay!" she says, trying to school her expression. A tiny sputter escapes and Raphael groans, turning away. "I'm sorry, mi amor! It's just...you're so big and tough and a tiny bug—"

"I'm allowed to be scared of stuff!"

"But a bug?"

"Hey, sorry I'm late! My shift ran—what are those two arguing about?"

Annalise stops just as she makes it through the turnstiles, work bag on her shoulder, hair still tied back in a ponytail. Raphael and Taylor look up. Casey, April, Donatello, and Michelangelo do the same.

"Lisey! I saved some pizza for you!" Michelangelo says. "Also, Raph is scared of bugs."

Annalise tilts her head. "Really?"