Chapter Text
Casey jones was thrown through time with a final mission from his teacher, the closest thing he had to family.
“When you’re done saving the world. Do me a favor. Grab a slice!”
Casey didn’t know what that meant. He could figure it out later, first he had to save the world. Find the Key. Stop the Krang.
He found the past turtles (Or they found him? Well didn’t matter). It was so strange to see them all together and so young. He’d never gotten to know Master Splinter, as he had died before Casey was born. Casey hadn’t known Raphael for very long, but he had distinct memories of sitting on shoulders higher than anyone else around (had he seemed bigger because Casey was little, or was this Raphael that much smaller?) Donatello had died when he was barely even a teenager.
Sensei and Master Michelangelo were So Young. Faces clear from wrinkles and scars, it was strange.
Commander O’Neil was as intimidatingly cool as ever, it was almost ridiculous to think of her as ever being the same age as himself. He certainly hadn’t expected her to have the same reflexes though, guess he shouldn’t have underestimated her.
And now Raphael was questioning him, and okay he still seemed very big. He barely registered the questions about the photo, but he did catch what Michelangelo said next.
“What’s your favorite Pizza? Cause I’m ordering right now!”
Casey had heard that word before. Few and far between, and usually followed with groans or swearing. That didn’t happen here. But before he could really think about it, a young Donatello was in his face asking why he had his own tech. His grappling hook was activated and Casey went flying through the air, accompanied by screaming from the Hamato family.
Right. He had to get them to listen to him so he could save the world. He had a mission to complete.
“Wa- Wait I’m a friend!” Casey yelled as he hung upside down. “Let’s start over…”
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[A movie’s worth of events later]
The apocalypse ended with the beginning.
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They saved the world, the city was rebuilt, and everyone had healed from their injuries.
Now Casey can finally find out what the last thing his Sensei had said meant. He walks into the main area of the lair where the turtles and Master Splinter are sitting. He could ask just Leo himself what it meant, but Casey figures that if for some reason this Leo doesn’t know what was meant, then someone else could figure it out.
“H-hey Leo?”
“Hey Casey, what’s up?” Leo glanced up from the book (comic?) he was reading.
Why is this harder than the telling them about the end of the world?
“I have a question. You, I mean,” Casey rubs the back of his neck, “my Sensei told me to do something, before he sent me through the time portal, it was the last thing he said to me, but… I don’t know what it means and, I was hoping you could tell me?” Casey could see that the others had stopped what they were doing to listen in.
“Don’t tell me we have to save the world again” Leo jokes. Casey can’t help but notice that this young Leo has the same stretched smile his Sensei used when joking about something when he’s nervous.
“No,” Casey chuckles then pauses. “At least… I don’t think this has anything to do with that.”
“Okay then, let’s see if I know. What exactly did Future Me say?”
“He told me that after I was done saving the world, I was to “grab a slice”. What is a slice?”
“Oh, that just means he wanted you to get some pizza? A good idea, but kinda a weird thing to say as a good bye” Leo mumbles the last part to himself. Everyone else relaxes ever so slightly.
“Oh okay.” Casey says. “So what is pizza?”
Leo freezes and slowly turns to look at Casey, everyone is staring wide-eyed at him. Casey can’t help a feeling of déjà vu, though he has no idea why.
“What? You… you don’t know what pizza is?” Mikey asks so sadly that Casey worries he is going to start crying.
“I mean… I’ve heard the term before?” Casey feels awkward suddenly. They all are looking at him with such horror, you’d think he had said there was another alien invasion coming.
“Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Casey says, worried he has upset the turtles.
Leo took a breath. “No, no. It’s just-“ Casey saw him pause, horror crawling over his face. “Oh my god, you said you ate rats and leaves. You were serious! There was no pizza in the apocalypse. Casey, pizza is the most amazing-“ Leo is interrupted by Donatello’s hand smacking him in the face. The feeling of déjà vu is back again with full force.
“The amazingness cannot be merely described. It must be experienced,” Donnie says seriously.
“Okay we’re fixing this right now.” Leo stands up from his chair and points to the youngest turtle. “Mikey! It’s pizza time! Brooklyn bridge NOW. ORDER UP.”
“Already covered!” Mikey chirps, holding up his phone for proof.
“Then let’s go!” Raph scoops both Mikey and Casey up under his arms and they’re out of the lair and in the Turtle Tank soon enough.
“So is anyone gonna tell me what pizza actually is?” Casey asks, because he still has no idea.
“So ya really don’t know?” Raph asked, leaning forward in his seat.
“No, I really don’t.”
“HOW?! I mean- The other us never told you about it?” Mikey turns to look at him as well.
“I guess not. I heard the word a few times, but it wasn’t said a lot, and honestly… I thought it was a bad word when I was a kid?”
“A bad word? Pizza: A bad word?!” Leo is yelling, absolutely flabbergasted.
“It’s not my fault you guys never told me about it! So are you guys gonna keep me in the dark forever, or do I get to know what it is?”
“Pizza is a kind of food, Future Boy.” Splinter finally answers him. Casey jumps slightly at the voice. He had forgotten Splinter was there.
“It’s food? Oh…. Why did I think it had something more to do with the sky?”
“I have no idea why you would think that.” Donnie states with a raised eyebrow, like he is questioning Casey’s sanity.
“So what kind of food is it? Is it a meat, or something more like spinach or potatoes?” Mikey slides down in his seat making the most distressed whine at Casey’s apparent lack of food categories.
“Pizza can be topped with many things, but the most basic of pizzas include: a crust, which is usually made of wheat flour, eggs, salt, and yeast, sauce, typically tomato and can be spiced in varying ways, and cheese, most commonly mozzarella and parmesan, though there are many others that can be used. Most common toppings are pepperoni, beef, mushrooms, sausage, peppers, ham, and pineapple (although that one is an abomination to have on pizza).” Donnie explains.
“Uuuhhh, I think I know what three of those things are” Casey says as most of the ingredients go completely over his head.
“Speaking of. Hold out your arm” Donnie commands.
“What, why?” Casey asks even as he holds it out.
“You’re not going to stick a tracker in him like you did us are you?” Mikey squints at his brother and Leo joins him. Casey wonders to himself if he should tell them that the Donatello from his timeline had already given him a tracker.
“Wait, what’s this about trackers?” Raph asks confused.
“Mmmm It’s nothing to worry about” Donnie mumbles.
“Donnie-“
“BESIDES,” Donnie cuts off the rebuke. “I am not giving him a tracker. (Right now). I merely want to take a blood sample to make sure he isn’t allergic or intolerant to anything. Can’t have him going into anaphylactic shock now can we?”
“Okay, yeah that’s probably a smart thing to check” Raph admits.
Casey holds still while Donnie takes a quick blood sample. Donnie takes it and inserts it into the dash of the turtle tank and graphs and numbers appear on the screens. Casey can’t help but wonder why he has something like that in the transport vehicle, but he guesses maybe that’s more normal in this time.
After a moment the numbers stop and Donnie says “I am happy to announce that Casey Jones is neither Lactose nor Gluten intolerant and is not allergic to any of the most common pizza ingredients. HAZAH.”
The turtles all cheer at the results, and Casey feels himself smiling along with them.
“I texted April and she says she’s gonna meet us at the Pizza place!” Mikey announces after his phone dinged.
“Excellent! We will retrieve the pizzas shortly and then we’ll head over to the bridge.” Donnie says as they turn a corner.
“Hey since Casey still pretty much doesn’t know what pizza is, I can portal him to the bridge and you guys can meet us there with the pizza so he doesn’t get any sneak peaks on the way there.” Leo suggests as he slings an arm over Casey’s shoulders.
“You good with that Casey?” Raph asks him.
“I don’t really understand all this secrecy about it, but I’m fine with it, long as I ‘Grab a Slice’ at some point. It doesn’t matter to me where it happens.” Casey pauses. “Unless Where IS an important part of it?”
“For the most part, No, it doesn’t make a difference. But we like to hang out at the bridge (it’s where we have our box stack record) and since this is your first pizza, it IS important.” Leo explains.
“Okay then, let’s go” Casey gives him a determined smile.
“OOO Can I come with?” Mikey waves his hand in the air excitedly. “I wanna get some sketch ideas of the skyline!”
“Sure thing, Little Bro!” Leo gives him a thumbs up before pulling out his swords. “One portal coming up!”
Casey jumps through the blue portal and he’s on top of a stone and metal structure overlooking much of the city and a river.
Casey had been out in the city with the guys a couple times in the weeks since they beat the Krang, but this was the first time he really has had the chance to look at the city when it was whole.
It was amazing to see what the world looked like without the destruction of the Krang. Casey found himself entranced by the shades of blue that the sky was made of. Casey doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything other than the smog filled skies of the apocalypse, let alone this completely cloudless sky. Both Leo and Mikey quietly join him in his enraptured viewing.
Before he even knows it, the others are back and someone is opening one of the many many many (just how many slices was this???) flat boxes and presenting the circle inside of it to him.
“So this is ‘grabbing a slice’? I don’t get it.” He now understands what the slice part means, holding said slice of the circular flat food, but he still doesn’t understand why this was so important that it was the last thing his sensei told him to do.
Casey doesn’t know what to think of the item. It has so many things stacked on top of each other that the gooey part (cheese? Or was that the sauce?) is threatening to drip off the bottom part (crust? He thinks that’s what Donnie had called it). He can’t imagine that it’d be very good. He does have to admit that it does smell pretty good though, even if it is odd.
“Wait for it...” Mikey says in anticipation
He takes a bite. Chews. And okay wow.
It was AMAZING.
The sharpness of the cheese and the fluffiness of the crust and the savory spices of the toppings all combined made this the most heavenly flavorful thing he had ever had.
“So much better than rats.” He says around the mouthful of pizza while everyone (minus Splinter) nods in agreement with him.
He now understands why they made such a big deal about it. It is truly the best thing he had ever eaten. He could happily eat this for the rest of his life.
Leo slung an arm around his shoulders, “Ya know, the rest of the world we saved is pretty great too.”
Casey hadn’t had much of a chance to think about it, but it would be pretty cool to see what the rest of the world is like without the Krang. If everything is even half as good as pizza is, Casey can honestly say he’s excited to find out all about it.