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tangledinink · 11 months

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Yayyy, another I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? sidefic! You guys voted for the Carol POV, so here it is! Read it on ao3 or below the cut!

Carol wasn’t surprised when she felt little hands tapping at her leg-- she had five children in her house right now, after all, all ranging from the ages of six and eight. She was no stranger to the occasional kid grabbing for her attention, (though they were trying to gently encourage them all to use their words…)

She was, however, a bit surprised when she looked down, pausing in her current task of chopping up fruit, to see Donnie staring up at her expectantly. Because, quite frankly, Donnie usually wanted very little to do with her.

She had known these kids for nearly two years now, and she was pretty sure he still basically considered her a stranger. Which was fine. She was nothing if not patient. She was raising April, for god’s sake, she had to be. But she had to admit-- two years was a long time to be patient for.

She could hardly believe that so much time had already passed. She remembered when the Hamatos first moved in next door. It was hard to forget, frankly, as the entire affair had kicked off with April excitedly running to find her, flinging herself up onto the couch and into her lap, quite nearly shattering half her bones in the process.

“April! The living room is not an extreme sports stadium--”

“Mama!” April had gasped, ignoring her entirely. “Mama, there’s people moving into the apartment next door!”

Carol had paused for a moment, blinking in quiet surprise. They had new tenants already? The building had been empty for some time since that house fire back when April was still a baby, and she was aware that someone had bought it-- a new landlord, she assumed-- and had started to do work on the place. But that had only been a month or so ago, if even. Surely they couldn’t be completely done with all the needed repairs and renovations, could they? And had already found new tenants? Who would be desperate enough to rent an apartment that was still under repairs-- and then move in?

“Are you sure they’re not just the construction people, sweetheart?” She had asked, raising a brow, and April shook her head firmly, her lips curving into a pout.

“Nu-uh! They’re moving people! They were moving a couch! I saw them!” She insisted, pointing. “Here! Come look!”

And Carol had sighed, not especially wanting to get up, but she did anyway, following after her daughter to peer out the window of their apartment, and.

Huh.

She supposed she was right. They were movers.

“See? I told you! People are moving in!” April cried, gesturing to the window.

“I stand corrected,” Carol remarked, leaning back and placing a hand on her hips, frowning a bit. Well, that was odd. She wondered if anyone from the apartments upstairs knew anything about this… She’d have to corner Jackalyn the next time she ran into her.

“Well. It looks like we’re getting new neighbors,” she had mused, crossing her arms over her chest, and silently saying a prayer that it wasn’t anyone crazy. And when she asked her husband about it later, in the evening, after April had already been put to bed and they were curled up on the couch watching TV, he had said, “I heard that someone bought up the whole building and is moving in themselves,” and she had raised up a brow and thought, ‘that whole building? All to themselves?’ and then thought ‘oh great, they probably are crazy. Rich and eccentric crazy.’

---

It would take another month before Carol discovered that they were, in fact, crazy. Rich and eccentric crazy. Just not the exact brand that she was expecting.

“August!” She hissed fervently into her cell phone once she was in the safety of her own apartment again, absolutely vibrating.

“Carol? What’s wrong, hun?”

“Our neighbor is Lou Jitsu!”

“... Excuse me?”

“The new neighbor! The person who just moved in next door-- it’s the Lou Jitsu! I just ran into him outside!” She pressed.

“... Lou Jitsu the actor? With the ramen brand?”

“Yes! Him! The Lou Jitsu!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Carol insisted. “It’s actually him! I asked! And he admitted it! Lou Jitsu the action film star bought out the entire brownstone next door!”

“... Huh. Well damn. that’s… interesting.”

“And he has four babies.”

“I’m sorry, he what?”

---

It would be a week after that phone call when her April came running into the house, absolutely covered in filth from head-to-toe, (oh god, her hair,) and cheerfully informed her that the kids from next door were her new best friends and that they were very weird, but she liked them a lot.

Well… great. That was fantastic.

Their next-door neighbor was a rich, famous action film star from Hollywood, the literal teenage heartthrob of the 80’s, and he had four little kids that played in the garbage with her kid.

…How... wonderful.

But it made April happy, and she wasn’t the type of parent to try to control who her kid made friends with, (especially when April already had a hard time with it,) so they kept playing together. They were right next door, after all, and April already spent a great deal of time wandering around in the little dead-end alley between the two apartment buildings, with the door propped open so Carol could hear her and keep an eye on her, and it seemed so did Lou Jitsu’s boys, so…

They saw each other, sure. She would catch sight of the actor across the way through the window, watching the kids play, and he would see her, and they would wave. And sometimes they’d go out into the alley at the same time for one reason or another, and they’d say hello and make a bit of small talk, but it would be another week and a half after April’s declaration of friendship before Lou Jitsu the famous action film star from Hollywood and the literal teenage heartthrob of the 80’s invited her and her child over to their house for tea.

“You’ll like them, Mama,” April had excitedly informed her as laced up her sneakers, grinning up at her with big eyes.

“Mmm-hmmm.”

“They’re super weird. One of them has stripes on his face--”

“April, baby, that’s not very nice.”

“But he does! They’re stripes. He says they are.”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“He’s really funny. And annoying. And he has a twin brother, and he doesn’t know how to talk yet, but he makes noises like cheep cheep cheep and they’re funny, and he can build robots! And they have a little helicopter with a remote and he can fly it so good. And then one of them can pick me and Mikey up at the same time! And he can kick a ball so far, Mama, it’s cool!!!”

“I see.”

“And then one of ‘em--”

“April, baby, are you almost done with your shoes?”

“Uh-huh,” April reported, scrambling up to her feet.

“Okay. Let’s go then, okay? Are you ready?”

“Yep!” April confirmed easily, scampering over to her mom’s side to grab onto her hand. Ooh, Carol wished she felt as enthusiastic as she did...

“Alright. Let’s go,” she said, taking in a long, deep breath before letting it out through her nose and making the long, arduous trek to the next-door neighbor’s house, hesitating for just a moment before she rang the doorbell.

“I’LL GET IT! I’LL GET IT!”

“NO, I WANNA DO IT!”

“IT’S MY TURN--”

She could already hear boisterous screams from inside, and she couldn’t resist the tiniest smile. The shrieks of children quickly became clatters and thunks, however, and a moment later, the door swung open, and she was met by three children-- two wrestling with each other viciously in the background, and the third holding open the door, staring up at her with wide eyes.

“Hi.”

“Raph!” April squeaked in delight, wasting no time in throwing herself at the larger child, who beamed in response, scooping her up in a hug and lifting her up off the ground with ease as she giggled. Raph? Didn’t April say they were the same age? Jesus, what is he feeding this kid…

“What did I say about best behavior!? This is not best behavior!” A voice rang through the chaos a moment later, and a somewhat frazzled-looking man stepped into her field of vision, scooping the two wrestling children up off the ground with a sweep of his arms.

“Orange, stop it-- Blue, let go of his hair!” He scolded, separating them. “Or you will not get to play with Miss April!”

“He started it!” One of the children, (who, admittedly, did kind of have stripes over his eyes,) accused.

“Doesn’t matter. Shoo. Go sit in the living room. No more hitting,” he insisted, waving them both off, before he quickly moved to the doorway.

“I am so sorry about that…! Raphael, what did we say about opening the door by ourselves?”

“Uhmmmmmm,” the child stared up at their father, seeming to hesitate for a second. “... To not to?”

“Exactly,” he said, and Carol couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit at the long-suffering tone in his voice. “Go and check your little brothers aren’t still fighting for me real quick, okay?”

“Okay!” Raphael agreed easily, finally letting go of her daughter in order to scamper off, and Lou Jitsu sighed deeply. And he hesitated for a second. And he chuckled sheepishly and moved to the side.

“Sorry about that…! Here-- please. Come in.”

“Oh-- it’s fine!” Carol assured, laughing nervously as she slowly made her way inside. April wasted no time at all, happy to invite herself in and scamper down the hallway. “I know how children are…!”

“Yes, well…! I thought, since the kids are such good friends, it would be a good idea for us to get a chance to… chat!” He said, and Carol was quietly shocked that he seemed nervous. Lou Jitsu, the famous movie film star from Hollywood and literal teenage heartthrob from the 80’s…

Was nervous to talk to her?

… Somehow that made her feel so much more at ease.

And she was shocked by how truly pleasant their chat over tea ended up being.

She supposed she had perhaps come into this with a few preconceived notions, but Yoshi was a lot more down-to-earth than she expected, and the way he talked about his children was, quite frankly, heart-warming. The two of them chatted about the horrors of the administrative side of the New York public school systems, the tribulations of trying to keep their kids from breaking their own necks with their over-enthusiastic acrobatics, and of all the crazy stories that they brought home to them when they went out to play together. And by the time Carol was herding April back out the door, quite a few hours later, to head back home, they already had plans for their next visit the same time next week.

It wasn’t until Carol got back home to their own apartment that she realized she had only seen three boys during their trip.

“April, honey,” she had said, glancing down at the child. “Doesn’t Mr. Hamato have four kids?”

“Yeah,” April had replied with a hum. “But Donnie didn’t wanna play today, Leo said, so he stayed in his room.”

And that had been odd, but Carol had told herself not to think too deeply on it, concluding that he must just be shy, and let it go.

---

It was after four playdates, during which she saw neither hide nor hair of this alleged twin brother that Leo had, that Carol finally, hesitantly, gently brought it up to Yoshi. And he had laughed nervously, looking to the side.

“Ah. Well. Purple doesn’t really like… new things very much,” he had explained slowly. “He’s not shy, exactly, he’s just… particular. I’m worried he might be a little… overwhelmed, I think the move has been hard on him--”

Carol hadn’t realized she was opening up such floodgates. But she listened anyway, suspecting quietly that he had never had a chance to talk about any of this with anyone else before.

She hadn’t expected herself to get so damn attached to a kid who she had literally never met before.

She had already quietly garnered a great deal of private sympathy for Yoshi in the time she had known him. Just April was already plenty for her, thank you very much, and she had August to help her. Yoshi was doing things, it seemed, entirely on his own-- and he had literally four times as many children as she did. Besides that, she wouldn’t sit here and pretend like she hadn’t read any of the news articles about him over the past fifteen years or so... But as Yoshi fret in a hushed tone over how his other three boys seemed to be doing so well but Donnie seemed to be struggling so much, she couldn’t help but feel her heartstrings quiver in response.

Really, she didn’t mind being a sounding board. She didn’t have any more experience or insight than he did that she could pass along, but she got the impression that at least being able to talk about it helped. And so, when their pediatrician suggested testing, and Yoshi worried about whether or not it was the right choice, she had been happy to listen. And when they started school and Yoshi agonized over how Donnie in particular would fare, she listened to that, too. And when Donnie was diagnosed with autism, she listened, and she did some quiet research at home in her own time, just for the sake of knowing. And when Yoshi excitedly showed her the sign language the family had started learning, over the moon that his child was taking to it so well and that he was finally able to communicate with him without being forced to jump through a million hoops first, she had celebrated with him and then started learning the language, too, along with her husband and daughter. And when Yoshi had told her that Donnie had started talking out loud sometimes in the home, tearing up a little as he did so, so had she, even though she still didn’t even know the kid. But she had heard a million stories about him, both from Yoshi and from April, and for a minute there, it had seemed like he was having such a hard time.

But now it seemed like he was making so much progress so fast, and she couldn’t help but be overjoyed on his behalf.

---

The Hamatos had been her next-door neighbors for about four months before she finally did, in fact, meet Donatello.

In fact, he opened the door for her when she rang the doorbell.

April was, of course, completely unphased. She gasped in absolute delight at the sight of the elder Hamato twin, absolutely dancing on the tips of her toes.

“DONNIE! Are you gonna play with us today!?”

He had kept quiet for a moment, glancing up at Carol with narrowed, suspicious eyes, and then he nodded.

“Can we do the robot battle thing?!”

He nodded again, shifting a bit so that they could come inside, and Carol was trying so, so hard not to gape.

It wasn’t like she had never seen Donnie before. She had seen him plenty of times. He and his brothers and April played in the alley outside the house all the time, of course, she had seen him. She had just never seen him… up close. He always made himself scarce any time she went outside to check on April or speak with her or bring her in for the evening, finding the nearest hiding place each time with shocking speed, and he had certainly never acknowledged her in any way before.

She felt stupidly giddy over something as small as a five-year-old glaring at her, and she cleared her throat a little as she stepped into the apartment, carefully toeing her shoes off.

“Do you know where your Dad is, Donnie?”

Donnie had kept quiet for a second, seeming to consider this, before he nodded, pointing in the direction of the kitchen.

“Oh, okay. Thank you.”

And she wasn’t very good at sign language yet, but he had just barely glanced up at her before he put his head back down and signed, ‘you’re welcome,’ and oh my god she could have cried.

---

After that, Donnie would come down to play every time she and April visited. He still hid sometimes when she came out into the alley, but he did it less and less often as time went by, and Carol considered that a success in and of itself.

It was about two weeks after she had properly met him that she finally got up the courage to bring up the sorry state of the poor boy’s hair. And Yoshi had groaned softly, burying his face in his hands.

“I know! I know, it’s awful. I have no idea what I’m doing,” he lamented. “I started bringing the other boys to a hairdresser, but Donnie won’t let anyone else touch him,” he explained wearily. “We tried, and he bit the poor woman! I’m still trying to figure it out, but he just has such little tolerance for it! I can only get him to sit with me and work on it for maybe five or ten minutes at a time before he’s ready to bite me, too…!”

And Carol had pursed her lips, and eventually said,

“Can I help?”

And so, she had started the process of teaching Yoshi how to take care of his sons’ hair properly. And Yoshi really had been trying-- he had done his research, and he wasn’t doing a horrible job or anything, by all accounts, he was just inexperienced. And Donnie was maybe a… difficult case.

Donatello had no interest in letting Carol touch him, which was fine. He had several brothers, one of which had a pretty similar hair texture to his own, that she could use as a stand-in to show Yoshi the ropes. And slowly but surely, they made progress. Donnie still didn’t enjoy the process of having his hair messed with. He deeply resented the experience of any kind of oil or hair product going on his head and touching his scalp, (it broke Carol’s heart the first time she and Yoshi made him cry under her tutelage,) and he’d only allow them to work with him in relatively short bursts before he got overwhelmed and needed a break-- but that was okay! They took it one step at a time, and eventually, over a period of nearly a week and a half, she managed to not only breathe some life back into the poor kid’s hair but to get it all out of the chunky little braids he had had in for the past five months.

And Carol thought to herself that even with it looking far less than its best, Donatello had the most beautiful, coily little black curls.

---

It had been a little under a year when her husband had come home in the evening after work, taking the time to give April about a dozen kisses and talk to her about her day for a bit before he wandered into the kitchen to join her, pecking her lips in greeting.

“Hey, hon.”

“Hey. How was work?”

“It was good, it was good… Hey. So. I was thinking…”

Carol raised a brow, immediately glancing over her shoulder to give August a look. Thinking, was he?

“Don’t gimme those eyes! It’s not bad!” He protested, laughing softly, and she chuckled a bit in response.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I ran into Yoshi the other day, and… what do you think about April going home with him after school?” He questioned.

Carol paused, frowning a bit.

“... You mean, get Yoshi to babysit our kid?” She echoed incredulously. “August, that poor man already has four of his own!”

“I know! I know! But we were talking, and, I mean. He basically suggested it!” August defended. “And you know how much April hates those after-school programs,”

Carol sighed, wrinkling her nose, her shoulders slumping slightly.

“She’s been getting a bit better recently…”

“Yeah. But. Look,” he sighed. “Half of Yoshi’s kids go straight to some sport or class or what-have-you in the afternoon, anyway! And they all go to the same school! So… He just picks April up with the rest of the kids, gets everyone dropped off where they need to go, and brings the leftovers home for the day. And when we get off of work, we just gotta grab her from next door!” He said. “Plus, if Yoshi is already carting kids around, then maybe she could, you know, actually participate in some other things! Maybe enroll in one of those extracurriculars with the Hamato boys instead of just sitting around at the program until five-thirty. You know she’d love that.”

Carol pursed her lips, wrinkling her nose.

She would admit-- she hated that her seven-year-old spent so much time stuck at school. If either August or herself could afford to do so, she’d happily go pick April up from school every day herself and spend the afternoons with her, but they just couldn’t anymore. The nature of August’s job just didn’t allow for it, and Carol had already taken four years off from work to be a stay-at-home mom. And then spent two years after that only working part-time, so she could be flexible enough with her hours that she could do things like take April to and from school, but…

She couldn’t just do that forever. Firstly, because living in New York City and raising a child was expensive, and they both had very good jobs with rather nice salaries, but they also lived in a very nice apartment in a very nice part of the city, and just August’s income alone wasn’t gonna cut it-- especially if they wanted to send April to college one day. And secondly, because…

Quite frankly, Carol loved her job. And she was good at it, too! You don’t just get a job at NBC for nothing. And really, Carol adored her daughter to pieces-- she did. She wouldn’t give her up for the world. And she had zero regrets about taking the time off to stay home with her until she went to preschool. And she didn’t regret being part-time for two years, either. She loved being a mom!

But she loved being a news anchor, too. She really, really did. And she couldn’t just watch her career from the sidelines forever and expect it to still be there when she got back.

They had considered getting an after-school nanny for a while after Carol decided to go back to work, but they were expensive to say the least, and every time they interviewed a potential for the job, April firmly declared that she hated them by the end of it. And when they had pitched the after-school program to her, April had seemed open to it. What is appealing, in theory, however, was not always quite as good in practice. April had only been going to the program for about two weeks before she declared that she hated that, too.

It really wasn’t her fault. April had always been a little bit of an… energetic kid, and while she wasn’t trouble, per se, she had a tendency to get herself into trouble when she was bored. Call it counter-intuitive, but that was half of why Carol tended to be so lax with her daughter and allow her to do things like run around in the alley by herself. April was a clever kid! And sure, she could keep April inside in the apartment with her and only allow her outside when she was right there with her watching her every move and supervising her properly, but… She knew from experience that this would only inevitably lead to April feeling confined and cooped up, growing restless and understimulated, and then somehow bringing about the most unimaginable mayhem possible into their home. And Carol and August just didn’t have enough time in the day to spend every moment sitting outside and watching her.

If April had the freedom to roam and explore a bit, then Carol had found, much to her delight, that she usually made pretty good choices. And when she was allowed to wander the alley on her own, she’d end the days by excitedly showing her parents the massive chalk mural that she had drawn on the walls of the alley, or explaining to them the science experiment she was running after noticing an oil slick on a puddle, or pleading to visit the library so she could get some books on entomology, ‘cause she had seen a really neat bug outside and she wanted to figure out what it was.

… It wasn’t that April didn’t like school! It really wasn’t. She liked learning, and she liked most of her teachers, and she liked the routine and the stimulation. But it was just… it was a long time to ask April not to explore.

Add in the after-school program? That was over nine hours.

Carol sighed, tilting her head back and pursing her lips.

“We can’t just ask him to watch her for free! And this is not me agreeing to this either, I just… Even if he is already going that way, you and I both know April is a bit of a handful…!”

“I know,” August assured, holding his palms out. “I totally agree. That’s actually kind of why Yoshi brought it up…? Uhhh. While we’re on the topic…”

He gave a sort of a lopsided grin.

“How would you feel about watching the Hamato kids a few nights a week and for part of the weekends?”

---

So the Hamatos and the O'Neils worked out their deal.

Yoshi picked April up from school, along with the rest of his children, and would ensure each child got where they needed to go. If April had an after-school activity with one of the boys that day, (and August had been right, she was thrilled to start taking gymnastics classes and sign up for robotics club,) that’s where she’d go, and if not, she’d end up back home with Yoshi and any other child who didn’t have an extracurricular that day. And once August and Carol got home from work, they’d stop by to pick her up. And on the evenings and weekends when Yoshi was attending award show events or appearing on a talk show or managing his dojos, August and Carol would watch the Hamato kids in return.

This had been their arrangement for about a year now. And frankly, it worked out beautifully. Carol had long ago ended up adoring each and each one of the Hamato children, and the two families had grown close, because how could they not? She and August tucked the Hamato kids into bed at least a few times every month. They and their Dad regularly came over for meals or accompanied them on trips to places like the zoo or the aquarium. By now, she knew all their favorite foods and songs, their tells when they were lying, and their favorite hiding places.

She had, at one point, tried to convince the boys that they could just call her “Carol,” but when she had pitched it to the group, April had gasped loudly in offense and said that that was too weird, and if anything, they should just call her ‘mom.’ And then Mikey had declared that they didn’t have a mom. And then Raph had argued that they did have a mom, she was just dead. And then Leo had refuted that they did have a mom, and she wasn’t dead, she just didn’t love any of them. And then Donnie had signed something in ASL, too quick for her to quite catch, and Leo had nodded and quickly corrected himself, clarifying that their mom was probably alive and also existed, but she didn’t love any of them and also wanted their father to die.

She had changed the subject after that, and they still just called her ‘Mrs. O’Neil’ or ‘April’s Mom.’

But still, despite all this, Donnie seemed to hold her at arm’s length. And that was okay...! She knew it would take him a while, and he was no obligation to even like her at all, ever, if he didn’t want to. He tolerated her just fine, even if he still didn’t speak around her or August. Even if he still didn’t allow himself to be touched by either of them, declined to be tucked in or receive good night kisses, only satisfied and willing to consider sleep once he got a phone call and a picture from their dad. Even if he still usually declined to even sign to her directly, instead signing to one of his siblings or April and allowing them to translate.

... But now here he was, standing by her side and staring up at her expectantly through slightly crooked glasses, blinking widely at her.

God, for a second, Carol thought that something must have happened and someone must be hurt because Donnie never came to get her. Even if he needed something or wanted something from her, he’d send a messenger in his wake. He certainly didn’t come up and tap for her attention. A little bit of anxiety rising up in her chest, she quickly dropped what she was doing, crouching down next to the seven-year-old.

“Hey, Donnie. Is something wrong?”

Donnie frowned, wrinkling up his nose for a second before shaking his head.

Carol bit back a sigh of relief.

Which immediately then blossomed into near giddiness, which she also had to hold back. He was here to talk to her, and no one was even dying!?

“Okay. Did you need something?”

He pursed his lips, his frown deepening, sort of flapping his hands for a moment before he reached up, tugging at the twists of his hair. And Carol sort of floundered for a moment, because she wasn’t quite sure what Donnie was trying to tell her.

“Your hair? Do you need--”

And then she kind of paused, blinking for a moment, frowning.

Wait. Why were they doing this?

Donnie could sign. So why wasn’t he signing? Was he still not comfortable talking to her directly…?

And then she thought to herself-- you can sign, too, Carol. Why don’t you try signing?

And she thought to herself, what a good question.

So she did.

‘Is there something the matter with your hair? Or your head?’

And Donnie blinked in surprise, staring at her for a second and looking her up and down as if shocked to see her speaking his language. And Carol sighed inwardly, because okay, look, she knew that her ASL wasn’t the best-- even April easily outpaced her-- but she really could do it!!! He knew that, didn’t he?

(… Didn’t he?)

After a long beat of silence... he signed back to her.

‘Can my hair be puffy like April’s and yours is, please?’

And jesus christ.

She could have cried.

And it was so silly! Because all that had happened was one of the neighbor’s kids had asked her if he could get his hair done.

But he had never signed to her before.

Well aware that she probably looked ridiculous, but absolutely beaming anyway, she nodded enthusiastically. ‘Yeah...! Yeah, of course you can, sweetheart. I’ll let your dad know so when he gets home--’

‘Can you do it now?’

Surely she was in an alternative dimension. Or some sort of dreamscape. Or the children had arranged some sort of convoluted, cruel prank on her.

‘You want me to do it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Are you sure? You know I’ll have to touch you, right?’

‘Yeah,’ he confirmed again, nodding. ‘I don’t wanna wait. And Mikey said you do it better than Dad can.’

Carol checked her watch quickly, though she was pretty sure that even if she only had another ten minutes until their Dad got home, she’d still agree.

‘Yeah! Sure. Let me just finish this and I’ll come join you in the living room in a minute, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Donnie agreed, before narrowing his eyes. ‘But you have to stop when I tell you to.’

‘Yeah, of course, sweetheart. We can take breaks whenever you want.’

‘Okay,’ he repeated, nodding firmly, turning to head off as if he hadn’t done anything significant at all, while Carol leaned against the counter and took a moment to compose herself.

... He signed at her!

They talked to each other!

And he was going to let her do his hair!?

She was still kind of waiting to see if the rug was gonna be pulled out from under her, and while she was doing that, she heard an exchange take place in the living room, the sound carrying over to her in the kitchen.

“Donnie! Me and Mikey are gonna do a cartwheel contest. Do you wanna come?!”

That was Leo’s voice. She recognized Leo’s voice.

“No. April’s Mom is gonna fix my hair.”

She hadn’t heard that voice before.

“Okay! I’ll tell you who won!” Leo replied easily, running off, and Carol did kind of tear up now, despite herself.

Because he hadn’t spoken to her. Not out loud, anyway. They weren’t there yet, and she was fine with that.

But she had never heard Donnie’s voice before. Not in words.

He was in her home, and she was watching him, and he trusted her enough to let her touch him. He was comfortable enough with her to come to her and sign with her.

He felt safe enough that he could speak out loud to his brother in her home.

She resisted the urge to whip out her phone and call Yoshi right this very moment so she could tearfully and proudly report this to him. She would tell him everything later. But right now, she had a job to do.

She took a deep breath, settling herself. She finished cutting up the fruit she had been working on, leaving them out on a plate on the kitchen table for easy access for anyone who wanted it.

And, so as not to leave Donnie waiting, she made her way into the living room to get to work.

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roseverdict · 10 months

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Lost and Found

April O'Neil was not lost.

She was not!

She was exploring the playground and the surrounding area, that was all!

…but was she supposed to take a right turn at Albearto's or a left?

Maybe she was a teensy bit lost after all.

(Or, apparently there are some tweets about how April presumably met the guys a good few years before the events of the series, but they didn't get the chance to elaborate on it since network mismanagement shot the show in the foot. However, the idea of teensy April with tiny tortles has been bouncing around my brain like a Windows screensaver ever since I saw those tweets.)

(Or, "piece of evidence #254 that i cannot for the LIFE of me control the hyperfixate")

〜

i know there's a line in "repairin' the baron" that implies that splinter and the turtles have yet to meet april's mom but shshshshsh i do what i want. also i think the idea of mrs. o'neil knowing about them from the get-go is neat :>

tw/sidenote but both april and her mom are aware (to varying degrees) of the danger to a lost kid in a big city with plenty of melanin in their skin. the white guy who harasses april for a bit knows it too. things get stopped before any lasting injuries can be gotten and nothing explicitly racist is said, but still. i'm trying to be accurate as i can be to these situations and the characters but i'm so pasty you could colorpick from most of my skin and just get #FFFFFF so. no firsthand experience.

also there are brief mentions of potential amputation, though nothing actually gets amputated.

stay safe all.

(you can tell i'm not a new yorker by the way i make up place names and intersections xD)

〜

April O'Neil was not lost.

She was not!

She was exploring the playground and the surrounding area, that was all!

And maaaybe she had lost track of her directions somewhere a few blocks ago, but she still recognized the buildings around her, so she was fine!

Really, she was!

…but was she supposed to take a right turn at Albearto's or a left?

April shivered and tugged her orange hoodie tighter around her body. "Hoboy."

Maybe she was a teensy bit lost after all.

Well, sitting around all alone in Manhattan when you were the cutest, most charming little girl in town was a surefire way to get yoinked into some alleyway by shady gross people. If she was gonna be lost, she sure as heck wasn't gonna look like it!

April started walking as confidently as she could down streets she knew but couldn't quite piece together. Hopefully, she'd stumble across the entrance to the playground and be able to get back before Momma and Daddy started worrying about her.

While her confident swagger prevented people from giving her any weird looks, it did not prevent her from hearing a weird, quiet chirp-y noise.

April slowed, then wormed her way through the throng of adults until she popped out the side and could come to a stop. "Wha…?"

The chirp-y noise came back, this time easier to hear now that she wasn't in the middle of all those people, and April cautiously followed it back to the open end of an alleyway.

The chirping persisted.

It didn't sound human, per se, but at the same time it had a lack of…something…that made April think it wasn't just some freaky bird.

It kinda reminded her of…

…crying.

"H-hello?" called April shakily. "Is anyone there?"

The chirping came to a stop with a squeak, and April frowned, taking a step forward. "I don't wanna hurt you, okay? Are you alright?"

There came no response, but April took another step, then a third, scanning the alley for any shady gross people.

After a few more steps, April froze.

So did the big turtle shell thingy jammed between bags of garbage opposite some old graffiti- though, on second thought, maybe she just thought it was big because she'd only ever seen turtles in the zoo that were small enough for Momma to pick up in her hands. Apparently some turtles got to be way bigger than grown-ups, but this turtle shell was only a little bigger than the turtles at the zoo.

"…hi, there," said April quietly.

A turtle face peeked out at her from inside the shell, wide-eyed.

After a moment, April lowered herself to the ground and crossed her legs. "Why're you crying?"

Now, she hadn't really been expecting an answer- she'd just figured that talking calmly like Daddy did whenever she scraped her knee might help calm the turtle down.

That said, she figured she did a great job at not startling when the turtle spoke, and with a voice like a little kid, to boot. "…I, I think I'm l-lost."

"You're lost?" asked April. "Me, too. Do you have any friends that should be with you?"

The turtle's head slowly came out from his shell, and he nodded. "M-me and my brothers were explorin', but I got distracted by the pretty wall art and when I looked around they were, they were gone!"

"Pretty wall art? Y'mean the graffiti?" April asked, twisting her head to look back at the graffiti in question- a vivid neon version of the sunrise over Manhattan. She turned back and grinned. "You got good taste, turtle boy!"

That got Turtle Boy to giggle, and he carefully pulled himself from his shell and his hiding place to sit in front of her. "You think so?"

"I know so." April held out a hand for him to shake. "My name's April."

"Hi, April," giggled Turtle Boy as he shook her hand. "I'm Mikey."

Huh. He only had three fingers instead of five. Then again, he wasn't a human kid, so it made sense.

April beamed at Mikey. "Well, then, whaddya say we try and find our families? At least we won't be alone and lost."

Mikey nodded, but then he glanced out at the hustle and bustle of the adults just past the mouth of the alley. "But what if the human grown-ups see me?"

April frowned in thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "They can't see you if you're wearing something big and baggy! Hang on-!"

She took her hand back from Mikey and yanked off her hoodie, then held it out to him. "Try this on!"

Mikey's eyes widened, and April almost could have sworn he got stars in them. "A-are you sure?"

"Positive," April said, winking at him. "Besides, ain't turtles cold-blooded? It's getting kinda chilly out these days anyway."

Mikey took the hoodie like it was some kind of sacred artifact in a movie, then slipped it on over his shell. The sleeves were long enough to hide his turtle-hands, and when they both stood up, it went down far enough that what little April could still see of his legs could easily pass as weird pants and shoes.

"Now you're lookin' cozy," April proclaimed, reaching over and flipping the hood over his head.

Mikey giggled, then grabbed her hand and grinned up at her. "Okay, let's go."

April gave his hand a squeeze, and the two of them struck out into the wilderness of rush hour.

"So, Mikey, do you recognize anything around here?" asked she after a few moments of walking.

Mikey's head turned from left to right and back again as he looked around, then he pointed with his free hand at Metro Tower, his sleeve flopping slightly at the end. "I think we were trying to go, uh, over there when we got separated."

"Right!" April nodded and led the way. "To the tower!"

For the most part, they managed to get through the crowds without too much trouble.

When they were just a few blocks away, though-

"Hey, there, kiddo. You're looking kinda green, heheh."

April tensed at the voice from one of the alleys. That was definitely somebody trying to be shady and gross.

She glanced at Mikey worriedly, but when he didn't seem to have any ideas for what to do beyond freezing up in fear, she swallowed down her nerves, squeezed his hand again, and shot a fake smile into the alleyway. "Thanks for your concern, mister, but my bro here just really likes dressing up as animals."

"Is that so?" asked the voice. The owner stepped into view, a very tall, very grown-up, very big white guy with an extremely icky grin on his face. "Would either of you be willing to show me the full costume?"

April gulped.

In the distance, she heard a few new voices yelling for Mikey, and from the tiny gasp that came out of him, April made an educated guess and said, "Sorry, mister, but our other brothers are prob'ly looking for us. Gotta go!"

Mikey nodded quickly. "Eheheh, yep! Bye!"

The two of them tried to bolt, but the man shot forward and yanked Mikey's hood down, gripping it hard enough that Mikey made a choked noise and skidded to a stop, clawing helplessly at his throat.

"HEY!" April snapped, whirling back around.

"A costume, eh?" snickered the gross guy. "Looks to me like you're a grade-A freak!"

April grit her teeth. "Let him go. Now."

"No, no, I don't think I will," said Gross Guy, scowling. "A scientific weirdo like this thing is gonna make me the big bucks!"

"Oh, I'll show you a scientific weirdo," hissed April right before charging the man and punching him right in the groin.

The sound Gross Guy made sounded a lot like the squeak Mikey had made when she first saw him, except better because Gross Guy's hand flew from Mikey's hood to grab at where April had punched.

Mikey gasped for breath, but April just grabbed him by the sleeve and started running. "C'mon, we gotta book it before he recovers!"

The two of them stumbled for a moment as Mikey got his feet back under him, but then they were sprinting down the sidewalk as fast as Mikey's little legs would let them. After a few moments of this, though, April shifted her grip on Mikey and just hefted him up into her arms, shell and all. "Hang on!"

"GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE-!"

Mikey glanced behind her, then shrank into his shell a bit. "He's gaining on us!"

April poured on the speed, but at the same moment as she saw another turtle boy about a street away and happened to catch his eye, a massive hand grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to a stop.

She let her grip on Mikey loosen so he would be able to go flying a few feet forward and yelled, "MIKEY, RUN!"

"Wha-? But April-!"

"I SAID RUN!"

She flailed in Gross Guy's grip in an effort to become as slippery, un-grabbable, and distraction-like as possible, but all she managed to do was get turned around so she couldn't see if Mikey got away.

Instead, all she got to see was Gross Guy glaring at her bad enough she almost wanted to cry.

Figured.

〜

Raphie's eyes flew wide as the human girl screamed, "MIKEY, RUN!"

From where he'd landed on the ground, Mikey scrambled to his feet, but instead of running- "Wha-? But April-!"

"I SAID RUN!"

Raphie chirped loudly, alerting Donnie and Leo to where he was without saying anything the human man might pick up on, then darted through the shadows to where Mikey lay, yanking him out of sight and into a nearby alley.

Mikey shook for a second, but once he saw Raphie's face, he launched himself up and grabbed Raphie in a tight hug. Before Raphie could hug him back, though, Mikey quickly pulled back and pointed tearfully at where the two humans were fighting.

Well, it was more of the man managing to drag the girl into another alley as she wiggled and yelled, but still.

For a moment, Dad's instructions to never, ever be seen by humans rang in Raphie's ears.

Then he reminded himself that the girl seemed to be trying to help Mikey, and it'd be rude to not help her back.

Raphie nodded to Mikey, then gave him a pat on the shoulder and slunk into the alley after the two humans.

"You idiot!" hissed the man, finally managing to grab the girl by the shoulders and slam her back against the wall, her feet dangling. "You just let the jackpot of a lifetime run free!"

The girl leaned away from the man's face, then spat right into his eyes.

Something in the man's face twisted. "Why, you-!"

Yeah, okay, Raphie wasn't watching any more of this.

He jumped up onto the man's back and clawed at him, a growl rising up in his chest.

The man squawked in surprise, though he didn't let go of the girl until Raphie bit him in the shoulder. He didn't bite at full strength- Donnie'd made sure he knew the kind of power a normal alligator snapping turtle had, and he didn't want to amputate anything (or, well, half-amputate with his tiny mouth)- but it was still more than enough to get the man to drop the girl to the ground.

As soon as the girl was free, Raphie stopped biting in favor of shoving himself off the man in such a way that the guy went tumbling into the wall.

The girl gawked at him, but shook herself out of it pretty quick once he grabbed her hand and ran back to where Mikey was, leaving the man to lick his wounds. "Thanks for the save, big guy! Guessing you're one of Mikey's brothers?"

Raphie nodded. "I'm Raphie."

"Good to meetcha, weird alley man aside," the girl laughed awkwardly, then leaned heavily on the nearby wall. "I'm April."

Raphie shot her a grin and a nod-

-and then Mikey cannonballed into her. "APRIL! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, Mikey, I promise," April told him, taking the cannonball-hug in stride and patting his shell through the hoodie he'd found. "Dude screwed up my locs, though. Booooo."

There came a groan from the other alley, and April's head whipped around to look before whipping back to meet Raphie's eyes. "We gotta move."

Raphie nodded. "If we can get down to the sewers, me and my bros know those like the backs of our hands."

"Then what're we waiting for?" asked Donnie, poking his head up from a manhole deeper in their alley.

"Let's go!" called Leo, popping up next to him.

The guy Raphie'd bitten made a weak-but-furious growling noise, and April nodded quickly. "Sounds good to me!"

Raphie watched carefully as she turned Mikey to the manhole and walked him over. She seemed to have Mikey's best interests at heart, and she didn't seem freaked out by the fact that they were all a bunch of talking turtles, but…

April glanced back at him. "Raphie, you coming?"

"I'm the oldest, so I gotta make sure everybody else is safe, first," Raphie told her firmly.

"Really? How old are you?"

"Ten. That's a whole two digits."

April snickered. "I'm eleven, which means I outrank you! Into the sewer with you, Turtle Boy!"

Raphie spluttered indignantly, but Mikey just giggled as he clambered down. "Yeah, into the sewer!"

Because she got Mikey to giggle, and only for that reason, Raphie relented and went next. April gestured grandly at the manhole as he passed, and then as soon as Raphie climbed low enough, she followed suit.

"Don't forget the manhole cover," called Donnie from below.

April nodded. "Gotcha."

The fading daylight cut out as April hefted the cover and pulled it back over the hole, and then they were lit only by the service lights of the sewer itself as they descended.

"So, I already met Mikey and Raphie," April said, glancing down at something past Raphie, "but I don't think I caught your names."

"My name is Donatello-"

"-but we just call him Donnie! I'm Leo!" declared he cheerfully.

"Ugh."

April chuckled. "Nice to meetcha. I'm April."

"Well, April, the sewers make for a quick getaway, but I doubt you want to stay down here forever," Donnie remarked as they started reaching the bottom. "Was there anywhere you needed to go?"

Once Raphie touched down, April hopped the last few feet to the ground and turned to them. "Yeah, actually. You know how to get to Carney Park?"

"Of course I do! I know everything," bragged Donnie, adjusting his glasses haughtily. "This way- wait."

Raphie watched as Donnie tensed. "…Donnie…?"

"The only efficient way to get from here to there is to take April through…" Donnie breathed, glancing at Raphie worriedly, "…the lair."

"Ah, crud," moaned Leo.

"Wha-? What's 'ah, crud?' What's 'the lair?'" April asked, fiddling with her hair. Then, after glancing around, in a whisper, "Is there a sewer gator?"

"No, no sewer gators!" Mikey assured quickly. "It's just…the lair is what we call our home, and we…may or may not have snuck out while Dad was napping."

"He has a very strict 'no human interaction' rule, for reasons you've just experienced," Donnie added.

Leo buried his head in his hands. "He probably won't even be mad. He'll just be…"

Raphie shuddered. "…disappointed."

April grimaced. "Oof, I know what that's like. Are we positive there's no other way?"

Donnie shrugged helplessly. "It's either the lair or a detour."

"How long a detour are we talking?" asked April, perking up some.

"On foot? Something like…" Donnie swallowed. "…an extra hour."

It was April's turn to groan and drop her face into her hands. "Awww, nooo, I'm gonna get so grounded!"

Even though April was (allegedly) older than Raphie, in that moment, all he saw was a girl like Leo or Donnie or Mikey- in need of Big Bro Raphie.

Raphie set his jaw, then turned to the others. "We go through the lair. Hopefully Pops is still sleeping, and if he's not…we sneak her through."

"You sure, Raphie?" asked Leo.

Raphie nodded firmly. "I'm sure."

"Then we'd best get a move on," Donnie said. "We've been gone…how long, exactly?"

April checked her wrist. "Well, it's almost 6 PM now. I dunno when you left, though."

Donnie still nodded, taking in the info. "Then Dad should hopefully still be asleep by the time we reach the lair, but only if we move fast."

"So let's hoof it!" declared Leo, breaking into a jog.

Mikey grabbed April's hand and dragged her after Leo. "Onwards!"

Raphie waited to make sure Donnie got back to the front of the group, then set off after them, keeping an eye out for anything else that might throw a wrench in their plans for the day.

"So, you're eleven?" asked Mikey after a few minutes.

April managed a laugh between breaths. "Sure am!"

Mikey beamed at her. "Cool! I'm eight!"

"Me and the nerd here are nine!" added Leo, pointing a thumb at Donnie.

"It's 'the nerd here and I,' Nardo," corrected Donnie.

Leo snorted. "See what I mean?"

April chuckled weakly, and Raphie glanced over at her just in time to see her foot come down and twist-

"Aaand scoop!" Raphie decided, doing exactly that to April before she had a chance to drop.

"Nice catch, Raphie!" Mikey cheered.

April blinked in surprise, then grinned sheepishly. "Thanks. Apparently I gotta work on my endurance."

"We're almost to the lair," murmured Donnie, slowing down.

"Right." Raphie shot Leo a look. "Leo, check if Pops is awake."

Leo nodded. "On it."

As Leo darted off, Raphie looked down at April. "I saw your ankle twist. Can you walk?"

"Only one way to find out," April declared.

Raphie set her on her feet, and while he held his hands nearby to catch her in case she fell, she didn't seem to need it. A little wobbling as she caught her balance, and April was fine.

Phew.

"Oh, haha, hiii, Dad!" called Leo's voice loudly. "You're up, I see!"

Raphie, April, Mikey, and Donnie all froze.

"He should've been out for another half-hour!" hissed Donnie.

"What do we-?" whispered Mikey.

"Stick close, April," Raphie decided. "I'm biggest, so if Pops gets close, hide behind me and we'll pretend you ain't there. Donnie, Mikey, act natural."

〜

"I certainly am," chuckled Splinter, scritching Leonardo's head. "How are you and your brothers doing, Blue?"

"Doing great!" Leonardo said with a grin, the response coming suspiciously fast and the smile growing suspiciously wide.

Well, so long as he and his brothers weren't actively being harmed, he supposed he could let it go just this once. Perhaps they were just trying to sneak in something cool they found while playing.

Splinter nodded and turned to head back to the TV room. "Wonderful."

He pretended not to notice as Donatello and Michelangelo entered with exaggerated sneaking motions, and he pretended not to notice as Raphael followed with a fake casualness.

He pretended not to notice as Leonardo joined the other three, and he pretended not to notice as the four of them tried to abscond to elsewhere in the lair.

When an unfamiliar voice gasped in time with a human girl stumbling into view, clearly hiding from him behind Raphael until whatever made her wince in pain, however, Splinter knew he had to confront his sons.

"Boys-!"

"Don't get mad at April!" Michelangelo burst, darting between the two of them with his arms held out protectively. "She helped me get unlost and saved me from a meanie human grown-up!"

"She told Mikey to get to safety when the bad guy grabbed her," Raphael added, mirroring the position. "And I thought the ankle she twisted was fine."

"It was!" protested the girl- April- as she leaned heavily on one leg. "At least, until just now. I think I double-twisted it."

"She's been remarkably calm about this whole situation, as well," Donatello chimed in, gesturing to himself in regards to the 'situation.'

Leonardo stepped between Donatello and Michelangelo, finishing the formation of a protective line between Splinter and April. "Dad, please don't be mad-"

"You snuck out?" Splinter started with. Then, before they could respond, he held up a hand. "This may be surprising, but I suppose I was already well-aware of that. I will be back to that subject later, but first- you all know how dangerous humans can be! And you brought one here?"

Then the other implications of his sons' words hit him like a yawning chasm splitting open in his chest.

"Wait, wait, wait- you needed saving?!"

Michelangelo nodded emphatically. "So I got distracted and lost track of the others and there was this guy, right? And April let me borrow her hoodie so people wouldn't see me and freak out but this guy saw me anyway, and he had the hood so I couldn't get away and April punched him between the legs so we could run! She picked me up so we could go faster, but then the guy grabbed her by the hair so she tossed me and Raphie was there and-"

"Woah, woah, Orange, slow down. I only caught the first part of that," Splinter said, holding his hands up placatingly.

Michelangelo took a deep breath, but Raphael dropped a hand on his shoulder and spoke instead. "Pops, this guy was going after Mikey, and April put herself in harm's way to get him to safety. Once we got away, she mentioned she needed to get to Carney Park, but the quickest way there meant we would need to come through the lair. I-I know you don't trust humans, but April is trustworthy, I swear."

Splinter looked between his sons, then searched April's gaze for…something.

The girl's hair was a mess. He'd done film work with all kinds of folks, way back in the day, and he knew that the amount of care that went into certain hairstyles- such as, for instance, April's- meant that for each grouping of hair to be frayed and off-kilter the way it was…well, that certainly proved the 'grabbed by the hair' part of the story.

She wasn't breathing too heavily, but it was still clear that she'd been doing a lot of physical exertion recently, and she certainly favored one leg over the other.

He looked into the girl's eyes- she couldn't possibly have been much older than Raphael!- and saw tempered steel underneath a laid-back exterior.

He looked into the girl's eyes and saw himself, and he saw her find herself in his in turn.

(He had a feeling that if he forbade his sons from becoming her friend, she was going to worm her way in anyway.)

"April, correct?" asked Splinter.

"Yes, sir," said she.

Splinter gently parted Leonardo and Michelangelo, then stepped forward. After a moment more, he held out a hand to shake. "You may call me Splinter. Thank you for keeping my boys safe."

Instantly, his boys relaxed, and April cracked a grin as she took his hand. "What can I say? They grew on me quick."

"Red, you mentioned getting April here to Carney Park?" Splinter asked, turning to Raphael.

Raphael nodded.

"Then you'd best get moving so she can get there before sundown."

"…can we play with April after this?" asked Michelangelo. "Like, playdates and stuff?"

"I'd be down for that," April answered, as if silently daring Splinter to contradict her.

Splinter sighed. "Perhaps it would be good to have some form of interaction outside of each other and this old rat."

He tried, but…just because he somewhat knew he was a less-than-stellar parent, that didn't automatically give him the ability to change that fact at will. Maybe a bit of outside interaction might help…well, everything.

A resounding cheer rose up from his sons, and Splinter smiled.

〜

Carol O'Neil was not panicking.

She was not!

She was searching every inch of the streets around Carney Park after exhausting her search of the playground inside, that was all!

And maaaybe she was calling her husband more often than strictly necessary, such as whenever she came to a new intersection without seeing her daughter, but it was perfectly normal to want to stay connected during such a time of crisis!

A crisis that, it bore repeating, was not making her panic.

…oh, who was she kidding?

April had disappeared forty-seven minutes and sixteen seconds ago exactly, and Carol had desperately tried to keep the numbers and statistics from overwhelming her ever since. She and her husband had scoured the playground, then set off to methodically search the surrounding streets, even calling in some of their friends and coworkers to help look, but to no avail.

It was like her daughter had vanished into thin air.

Her phone buzzed- another text from one of her coworkers.

nothing on 25th and Broadway :(

Carol stifled a sob with her free hand, but slid her phone back into her jacket pocket and turned to head back to the park. Maybe…maybe April had just found some sort of hiding place to take a nap?

(Carol ignored how flimsy the idea was in favor of something, anything that could give her a way to find her daughter. She knew the numbers. An unattended black girl lost in the big city could very well never get home again.)

She was so focused on keeping her breathing steady that she almost missed the voice at the edge of her hearing.

Almost.

The words were too quiet to discern, but the voice was calm, and Carol slowed to a stop. "April…?"

There were other voices, unfamiliar but just as young.

Then a manhole cover shifted in a nearby alleyway, and Carol pressed herself against a nearby wall.

"Looks liiike…the coast is clear," said a young boy. "And, just as I calculated, Carney Park is just a few blocks due south of our location!"

"Thanks, Donnie," said April's voice. "Y'all are lifesavers, you don't even know."

Carol was halfway through rounding on the alleyway in all her worried glory when-

"What? No, you're the lifesaver, April," said another boy's voice. "Like, literally. If you hadn't been there and helped me get back to my bros, I-I might'a been-!"

"Oh, don't get all mushy on me now, Mikey," April snorted.

Carol finished her motion, but stayed deathly silent as she took in the scene before her.

There were anthropomorphic turtles in the alley.

April was in the alley, her locs askew and one of her ankles slightly swollen…

…and a warm smile on her face.

None of them seemed to have seen her, and as she watched, April pulled the smallest of the turtles into a tight hug as if he was just another neighborhood kid.

The smallest turtle was wearing April's hoodie.

How had one of these turtles gotten April's hoodie?!

"Promise I'll try to hang out a bunch, okay?" April continued. "You guys are cool, and don't think I didn't see that skateboard ramp in there. I'm gonna pull off so many sick tricks you'll be begging me to teach y'all."

"Do I smell someone attempting to claim my throne as the sickest skater in the sewers?" asked yet another boy's voice, and this time Carol could see that it belonged to one of the turtles.

April smirked. "Maybe you do! Never underestimate April O'Neil!"

"See you soon?" asked the biggest of the turtles in yet another little boy's voice.

"Better believe it, Raphie!" April declared, patting the smallest of the turtles before letting go. "And, hey, Mikey, if you wanna hold onto that, you can. I'm the warm-blooded one here, and fall gets chilly."

The small one- Mikey, apparently- nodded. "Okay!"

April stood up straight, but just as quickly slumped back down sheepishly. "Uhhh…which way is due south, again?"

The turtle boy in glasses spoke up, his voice matching "Donnie's." "Well, given the time and the length and direction of the shadows cast by the sun rather than artificial light sources, it should be just that waaaoooeugh, boy…"

Carol blinked as the turtle boy locked eyes with her, then froze up in terror.

Donnie's reaction caused the rest of the group to turn her way, worry on their faces.

April swallowed, then smiled nervously, ducking her head into her shoulders like she was trying to turn into Mikey, who was legitimately drawing his head into both the hoodie and his shell. "…hiii, Momma."

There were many things Carol wanted to do in that moment.

She wanted to grab her daughter and spirit her home and never let her leave her sight again.

She wanted to break down crying from relief.

She wanted to demand to know what had happened and refuse to leave until she was told every single detail.

She wanted to demand to know why there were turtle boys living in the sewers.

She wanted to wring the reasons behind the 'lifesaver' comments out of them.

She wanted to wipe the fear from the children's faces.

In the end, she took a few steps into the alley, dropped to one knee, and held out her arms, hot tears bubbling up and dripping down her cheeks. "Oh, baby, I'm so glad you're okay."

April sniffled, then barreled into her and clung tight.

Carol quickly held April to her chest and peppered the top of her head with quick kisses, and as April started sobbing into her shirt, Carol turned her attention back to the boys.

Clearly, the fact that Carol had not started screaming at or about them had thrown them off a bit.

"I believe I have you all to thank for getting my daughter back somewhere we could find her?" Carol asked knowingly.

"Y-yes, ma'am," squeaked "Raphie," standing ramrod-straight as his brothers withdrew behind him, all four of them watching her warily.

Carol smiled warmly. "Thank you."

Yet again, the boys seemed taken aback, but Mikey quickly recovered and beamed at her from behind his brother's shell. "You're welcome! April's nice!"

…did these boys have parents? Follow-up question, would they like some?

April sniffled a bit as her sobbing slowed, then shifted to rest the side of her head on Carol's chest and look back at the boys. "Got any hangout plans that don't involve getting lost and running into your dad?"

Oh, right, Carol had to be a Stern Mother and make sure April knew not to run off like that again. Darn it all!

"Now, let's not make any plans just yet," Carol interjected, and almost immediately she got distressed protests from all five kids, but she pressed on- "April, you can't just run off and get lost like that on us. We were so worried-!"

"I'm, I'm sorry, Momma-!"

"-so I'm gonna have to make an executive decision, one I'm sure your daddy will agree with," Carol continued, raising her voice just enough to be heard. "You will not be doing anything with these boys-"

"Ms. O'Neil, you can't-!"

"-for the next two weeks!"

Dead.

Silence.

Almost as if afraid to speak, the boy whose name Carol still had yet to hear breathed, "…not for forever?"

"Leo!" hissed Donnie, elbowing him sharply without taking his wide eyes off of Carol.

Carol shook her head. "No, not for forever. This is a punishment for my daughter for wandering off into the city without somebody with her, not for you boys for bringing her back. Telling April she can't be friends with someone ain't my parenting style, anyway."

Oh, no.

They all looked like they were going to cry now.

Carol shifted her grip on April slightly and held out her now-free arm in invitation.

The four boys stumbled over their own feet as they rushed over, and then Carol found herself patting shells and getting nuzzled by little heads and struggling to stay more or less upright under roughly 240 pounds of sobbing, chirping turtle.

Wait, no- 180 pounds of turtle. Donnie hadn't thrown his entire weight at her like the other three, but even he had reached around and grabbed onto Carol's arm from the side, clinging tightly to her jacket sleeve and sniffling.

Not how she'd expected the evening to play out when she'd taken April out to the park, frankly.

Still, Carol murmured reassurances as she let them cry themselves out, and even April joined in after laughing wetly. On instinct, she found herself scritching Raphie's shell, then pressing a kiss to Mikey's forehead, then letting Leo bury his face in her shoulder. She even caught Donnie's watery eyes and tried to convey as much warmth as she could with a small smile.

Donnie gave her a wobbly smile in return before ducking his face into her sleeve, kneading it between his fingers.

After a good few moments, the boys started pulling themselves back together, and Carol made sure to stay put as they stepped back.

"Heh," managed Leo. "Sorry 'bout crying on you, Ms. O'Neil."

His brothers nodded in agreement.

"You're just fine, sweethearts," Carol told them truthfully. "Do you boys have a place to stay?"

"Mm-hmm." Raphie nodded. Then, with a shrug, "We live with our Pop in the…well, in the sewers."

"We keep our part of it very clean," added Donnie quickly. "We have our own rooms, and even several amenities we've found and taken home, such as furniture, a projector, and even Jupiter Jim movies!"

Leo flexed and grinned at Carol as if he hadn't just been bawling his eyes out into her jacket. "And nothing ever gets in without our say-so!"

"S-so it's okay if April wants to come visit sometimes!" Mikey finished, eyes wide and pleading.

"As long as you aren't running around on your own without even a place to sleep," Carol conceded. She…really wasn't sure she liked the idea of these bright boys living in the sewers with only humankind's refuse to claim as their own-

-oh, who was she kidding? She hated it.

Still, they seemed content enough with their lot at the moment, they didn't seem to be in any imminent danger, and Carol was, quite frankly, exhausted from the events of the past few hours, so instead of pressing the issue right then, she said, "April and I should be getting back home, and so should you."

"See you soon?" asked Mikey, giving Carol some of the biggest puppy-dog eyes she'd ever seen.

"Of course!" declared April.

"Not too soon, though," Carol reminded, pushing herself to her feet. "Remember, two weeks. You'll be lucky if we even let you out of our sight, little missy!"

April grinned nervously. "Because I'm your favorite daughter and you love me very much?"

"That, too, but mostly because you are so grounded!" Carol said, leveling a stern look at her.

April sighed. "Figured."

And as April took Carol's hand, and as the children waved their goodbyes, and as the two humans started walking/limping to the park, and as the turtles retreated through the manhole, and as Carol fished out her phone to message the rest of the search party, Carol smirked at April. "You can tell both me and your daddy about everything that happened today once we get home."

April grimaced. "Awww, what?"

"I'll help convince him those boys aren't some kind of imaginary friends, but other than that, you're on your own."

Carol chuckled as April groaned and buried her head in her free hand.

…and maaaybe she squeezed her daughter's hand as her adrenaline rush faded.

She was just glad April was there with her and okay enough to squeeze back.

〜

April O'Neil was not lost.

She pumped her fists excitedly as Momma made her way to an out-of-the-way picnic table, nearly buzzing right out of her skin as she waited.

Momma chuckled and took her sweet time sitting down, then grinned at April. "And that's two weeks. Have fun, and stay close to the park this time, okay, hon?"

"Okay, Momma!"

And April was off like a bullet, tackling a flash of green in the bushes and sending them all to the ground in a tangle of laughing limbs.

#rosie writes #rottmnt #tmnt #will i be able to write my beloved stick figures now?#i don't know man i'm chasing the barest scraps of serotonin rn and right now the turtles are giving me serotonin #gah i'm tired lmao #april o'neil #michelangelo rottmnt #raphael rottmnt #donatello rottmnt #leonardo rottmnt #splinter rottmnt #carol o'neil #i really hope i'm tagging properly orz #oh here's a tag i can't believe has to exist:#tcest dni

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