Together As Mutants (Book Six)

Chapter 56: Confession

Diaval can't stop staring at Leonardo. He's so used to him looking like a turtle that seeing this stranger, this Japanese boy with black hair and Leonardo's eyes. He should be focusing on his tea—too bland, the café didn't have chilli flakes and he forgot to bring along his own from the lair—but he keeps trying to wrap his head around how it's all possible.

They're sitting on a patio at a café, surrounded by regular old people who have no idea that there are mutants enjoying the ambience as much as them. Diaval keeps expecting stares or for someone to notice, but no one does.

Melanie laughs at a joke Destiny makes, snorting a little as she covers her mouth. Diaval's eyes drift from Leonardo to Destiny. At least she looks...somewhat like herself, although it's still weird not to see the points in her teeth or hear the thump of her tail wagging when she laughs. Her eyes are too muted.

She said it's a patch Donatello and Sarina made. He can't remember most of the explanation they offered about the science of it all, but the gist is that it...hides their mutant features? It's dramatic on the turtles, less so on Destiny and Sarina.

He looks into his teacup, brow furrowed. He wonders whether anything would change if he put one on, but he backtracks on that thought immediately. He can only think of his magic disappearing, leaving him cold and bare, lost without the feeling of its warmth buzzing in his veins. Does his magic count as a mutant characteristic? Is the patch smart enough to tell?

"Hello? Earth to Diaval?"

He blinks. Leonardo is frowning at him. It's funny how much softer the gesture is now. Diaval remembers how icy it used to be.

"Huh?" he asks.

Leonardo raises an eyebrow (he has eyebrows...weird) and tilts his head, gesturing at the table. Diaval realizes for the first time that Melanie and Destiny have disappeared, their teacups abandoned in front of their empty chairs, and the two of them are very...very alone.

Diaval blinks. "They're gone."

"Yeah, they went to the bathroom," he says. He leans closer, crossing his arms together on the tabletop. "So, before they come back...what's the deal with you and Melanie?"

Diaval feels his entire face get hot at the thought of her—her smile, her laugh, her pretty auburn hair, her freckles. "Melanie?" he asks. "Bout what?"

"I'm just wondering," Leonardo says. His voice is slow and leading, like he's trying to drag him to the point. "Still visiting, so unless she's your therapist now too..."

He frowns. Why would Melanie be his therapist? If she was, he's pretty sure he wouldn't be allowed to be this close to her. Melanie's talked about how Destiny is a bit of an outlier case for her, as usually she doesn't know her patients outside of their sessions.

Leonardo sighs. "Are you guys dating, Diaval?"

Oh. Oh. That. Oh, that. That, that, that...thing...that thing that adults do when they care about someone, when someone makes their stomach all twisty and their heart all pound-y. Diaval is an adult. Diaval can handle adult things.

It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing to talk about that stuff. Maybe he'd tell Destiny or Karai, but Leonardo? Shinigami who he still barely knows? Why would they want to know?

"She's..." he starts, but his mouth is all dry and his tongue is sticky. He takes a gulp of boring, bland tea that everyone else seems to think is delicious. The cinnamon only improves it slightly. "We...er..."

Think, Diaval! Think! She's pretty and she's kind and somehow when she touches him it doesn't hurt as much and doesn't make his skin crawl. She's understanding and sweet and she knows what he's trying to say even when words fail him. She never pressures him into anything he doesn't want to do. How can he explain that she's something otherworldly to him, someone he wants to hold on to for forever and a day, always to be together no matter where they go?