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Leo liked to think he had earned a certain reputation at Run of the Mill Pizza. It might not be an entirely good reputation, but it had to be memorable, and in the long run being memorable was what really counted, anyway. So he walked through the restaurant with the relaxed swagger of someone who knew the place well and had seen it experience many interesting situations (some of which he was directly involved with). And this time, he also walked with the utter confidence of a Dance-Champ Pro.
Because that’s what he was and why he was here: a bet with Raph over high scores on Dancin’ Champion saw the winner walking away with a 50% off coupon for any of Run of the Mill’s finest pizzas. And Leo was a Winner.
He sat down at a booth alone for his Victory Lunch and grinned as he spotted his biggest fan, Señor Hueso, standing by the kitchen. He waved happily and knew the bone man saw him as soon as his shoulders slumped and his eyes sockets rolled.
“Hola, señor! How are thiiiings?”
The manager sighed as he approached. “Things are very well and I would like to keep them that way, thank you.”
The implication had a wariness about it that didn’t faze Leo in the slightest. “Hey, I’m a model customer. I’ve paid off all my tabs, I tip 20% and I never complain when service is slow.” He dropped his voice down to a whisper and cupped his hand against his mouth. “Which I notice it has been lately, you know anything about that?”
“We have been a little short-staffed,” Hueso replied. “But that problem has since been addressed.” He looked Leo over. “In fact, since you are, by your own words, ‘a model customer’, would you mind waiting so that I may use you as a training example for our new waiter? His shift starts in ten minutes.”
“Of course!” Leo agreed. “Anything for you, ol’ buddy. Who is the new guy, anyway? I’ve always thought it would be neat to see an out-of-town Yokai in here.”
“Present and reporting for duty, skipper!”
They turned towards the familiar voice. Mikey stood there in the pizzeria’s uniform with a bright smile and cheery little salute. Leo gaped while Hueso looked him over.
“You are clocked in?”
“Roger dodger, boss! Wanted to get an early start on my first day.” He waved at his still-gaping brother. “Hey, Leo!”
Leo waved back, unable to close his jaw.
“Do you have a notepad and pencil?” Mikey patted over his crisp clothes and shook his head. “There should be a stack of both just inside the kitchen. Grab one and we will begin practicing taking orders.”
“Okeydokey!” Mikey chirped, then skipped off towards the kitchen.
Leo finally recovered with a full-body shake and looked aghast at the manager. “Hueso! Mi amigo, my pal, you hired Mikey instead of me? What about all of our adventures together? Who helped you repair your relationship with your brother? Who restored your good name in the Hidden City? Por que?”
“Michelangelo did very well in his interview and from what I saw from his previous experience seemed a natural fit. Already he is showing up early and carrying a positive attitude. Most importantly, unlike you, he actually applied for the position.”
“I didn’t even know you were hiring!” Leo exclaimed. “Are there any other server positions?”
“No, it has been filled,” he said dryly.
“Well, what about a bouncer? C’mon, Hueso, I know you could still use my skills keeping troublemakers out of here, whaddaya say? I’d be just a ‘natural’ at that as Mikey apparently is at serving tables!”
“Thanks, Leo!” Mikey hopped a little at the compliment as he returned. He showed Hueso the pad and pencil before turning back to his brother. “What can I get for you today?”
Leo looked from his beaming brother to Hueso to back again. The manager crossed his arms and looked approvingly at Mikey. Leo fingered his 50% off coupon, suddenly no longer hungry.
“An application.”
The light-hearted chuckle he got felt sour in his gut.
“Mikey got a job at Run of the Mill Pizza!”
“Yeah. Why is that so hard to believe?”
Leo did a double-take and looked at his phone. April sounded way too chill. “You knew about this?”
“He asked me for help prepping for his interview. As the Interview Master, of course I accepted.”
“So the person who can never keep a job is giving job advice?”
“Hey, my skills are in getting jobs. They always hire me, don’t they?”
Leo reflected. “True.” He sighed and kicked a rock off the rooftop. “I just can’t believe Hueso would overlook me, though.”
“Did you want the job?”
“I didn’t know it was a thing!”
“Leo, you go there all the time. You tryin’ to tell me you didn’t notice they were a little understaffed lately?”
“I noticed,” he replied, a tad indignant. “But it just… I don’t know, April, jobs have never really been on our radar. That’s always been an up-top thing. It’s not something I ever considered for us.” He stopped pacing around on the roof as a thought struck him. “Why did Mikey consider it?”
“You’ll have to ask him.” He could practically hear her shrug as she changed hands. “Hey, I gotta run, my shift at Second China starts in 20.”
“Is that a Chinese restaurant or a china shop?”
“Both, actually. Talk to ya later?”
“Yeah, thanks, April.” The phone clicked off and Leo stared out across the city. The wind swirled around his skin. In another moment, he broke from his trance and leapt across the next rooftop.
Mikey skipped into the lair late in the evening. Normally he would make a beeline for the kitchen, but first things first. He swung by his room and carefully put all his tips from the night into Mrs. Porky Coin. Then, after stripping off the uniform and freshening up a bit, he finally made his way down to fix a snack.
Leo was popping popcorn on the stove, a cup of tea in hand. “Hi Angelo, how was work?” he said nonchalantly.
“It was great!” Mikey bubbled. “I got to learn all the waiter shorthands for orders, and tricks for balancing trays, and the first table I did all by myself was super nice! Hueso said I was picking things up really fast so it shouldn’t be long until I’m handling my own section!”
“That’s great to hear.” Some kernels began popping as he took a sip of tea. “Incidentally, what led you to apply to Run of the Mill?”
Mikey thought of Mrs. Porky Coin and the amazing… brick-finish… expensive… pizza oven. “Oh, you know… a little pocket change is always nice.” He waved Leo off with a chuckle.
“That’s it?”
“Yup.” He walked around his brother and hummed a little to cover his nervousness as he fixed up some nachos. By the time he left, the popcorn was overflowing but Leo still hadn’t moved.
The days turned into weeks, and Mikey excelled.
He quickly got to know the regulars by name and established friendly relations with them. He was familiar enough with the menu to recommend pairing items that one wouldn’t think would work well together, yet always did. Very soon, he had a fantastic reputation built up. Tips increased and Hueso even gave him a raise. Mrs. Porky Coin was getting nice and plump.
One busy Friday night, Leo waited out in the alley until some patrons vanished through the wall. Then, he turned towards two, very large, hulking, goblin-like Yokai crouching by the dumpster.
“Okay, in about five minutes the Fly Guy should be out here to dump the trash. You guys have your lines?”
They grunted and nodded.
“Good. I’m going to go ahead and get in position. And remember: with feeling.” With that, the turtle hiked up his odachi and used a drainpipe to scramble up the side of the building.
Five minutes later, a fly Yokai buzzed out of the door carrying some trash bags. He zipped towards the dumpster.
“Hey,” the first goblin grunted to the second. “We should rob this place.”
“Yeah,” his buddy sneered. “A busy night like this? Think of all the money they’re raking in right now!”
The fly paused. He hovered near the dumpsters, not wanting to get closer to the scheming voices, but not turning back.
Leo swooped down and landed on the dumpster between them. He pointed his sword at the goblins in a grand fashion that would remind viewers with taste of a certain B-rated space captain. “I, Leonardo Splinterson, will not let you get away this!” he declared loudly.
“Oh yeah, wise guy?” both goblins said. They paused and looked at each other in confusion for a split second. One elbowed the other.
Leo took charge of the awkward moment and charged. “Ha-HA!”
The fly dropped the trash bags and buzzed back through the wall as fast as possible. Leo swung his sword and the goblins fell over.
“GAAARRGH!!”
“BLAAARGGG-UH!”
Leo stood proudly over them with his sword as the fly returned, Hueso in tow.
“Ah, señor! Your timing is excellent! These two would-be thieves will need to be kept under close watch until the authorities can come lock them away.” He elbowed the bone-man. “Fortunately, I was in the neighborhood to bounce them on out of here.”
Hueso stepped forward and looked over the fallen Yokai. “Ah! Crantz, Stern, how are you?”
“Wait, what?”
The first goblin sat up and cracked his back. He spoke now in a posh British accent. “Hueso, old chum, you missed an utterly glorious death scene. Possibly one of my best.”
The second goblin also moved. “Quite right. The dialogue was a little stilted, but by Jove, the action!”
“You will have to run the scene through for me in class,” Hueso replied warmly. “See you next Thursday?”
“Of course!”
“Tally-ho, now!”
Leo wildly shook his head as the Yokai trotted off. “You know those guys?”
“Of course. We take the same acting lessons every other week.” Hueso turned to reenter the restaurant. Leo hurried after him.
“Well, wait, wait! The point still stands: if you need a bouncer, I’m your guy!”
“If being the operative word, pepino.” Hueso patted his shoulder. “And we have a handle on things.”
“But, but there must be something I can do around here!” he babbled.
The manager paused and looked back at him. “Hmm. Perhaps. You see, I am promoting Michelangelo to kitchen staff, since he seems to have a natural talent for preparing food. This does open up the need for a new waiter, though, you understand?”
Leo nodded rapidly. “Yes! Yes, I do!”
“Good. Turn in your application with two letters of recommendation and I will get back to you with an interview date.”
Leo hugged the guy, who was certainly not expecting it. “Thanks, amigo!”
The next time Leo walked into Run of the Mill Pizza, it was with the swagger of an employee. “Hey, Miguel, how’s it going?”
“Great!” Mikey answered. “But I gotta run. There’s gonna be at least three birthdays tonight so we need all hands on deck!” He raced to the kitchen before Leo could say anything further.
And so the new system began.
At first, Leo enjoyed the work. He could charm his way into upselling any meal, make friends with even the most difficult of customers and earn good tips. The extra cash was more of a plus than he first realized. When Mikey bought the lair the brick pizza oven he had always wanted, it inspired Leo to finally purchase those comfy unicorn onesies. He could also just buy ice cream whenever he felt like it, or pay April back for picking something up, and bunch of other cool things.
But then he had to miss a Jupiter Jim rooftop showing because he was scheduled to work that night. And then he had a particularly rude Yokai dump soda on his shirt. And then he had to skip out on bungee-jumping with April because he was too tired from working a double shift.
Very quickly, work became work.
Yet Mikey still didn’t seem too bothered by all this. Leo knew Mikey had bad days. He’d seen the kitchen understaffed when people called out sick and watched Mikey run around trying to pick up the slack. He knew Mikey had also worked doubles and sometimes got called in as well. Mikey never complained about it, though, which was weird.
Finally, after a baby spit up on his apron and Leo was returning the mop in the back, he bumped into his brother.
“Hey, Mikey? Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
Leo sagged. “What made you decide to start working for Hueso? I mean… we don’t have to do this.”
Mikey hummed. “Well, at first it was the only way I could save up enough for a pizza oven,” he confessed. “But then… I kind of started enjoying it. The kitchen’s awesome, I get to make great food and experiment with recipes, and interact with people, and make money. Yeah, some days are tough, but that goes without saying for any day. Overall, I like it.”
“But we can’t just drop whatever we’re doing and go hang out,” Leo mentioned. “What about that?”
His brother shrugged. “We plan around our work schedule. That’s what April does. It’s no big deal.”
“Isn’t it?” Leo was agitated.
Mikey’s expression softened, and he laid a hand on his arm. “Leo… why did you want to work here?”
He shrugged off the hand. “I don’t know. I guess… I guess I was jealous. Hueso and I are pretty tight, and I just never considered that we would get jobs one day, or want to get jobs, and when I saw that he hired you, I just…”
“Wanted to prove you could do it, too,” Mikey finished.
Leo blinked.
Mikey moved closer, speaking kindly. “Leo, you can quit if you want. Like you said, we don’t have to do this. Besides, I always thought contract work would be more your style.”
“Really?” Leo stepped back and considered.
“Yeah! You do a job, and it’s over once it’s done. Self-starter, set your own schedule. Easy to work around other interests. I always figured you would go for that. Or sales, since you can talk anyone into anything.”
“I suppose I do have that talent,” Leo admitted, flattered. “Huh.”
Mikey smiled encouragingly, then shrugged. “That is, if you want to work at all. Totally up to you. But for me, I like what I’m doing right now.”
“It is right up your alley.” Leo slowly grinned. “Hey… thanks.”
Mikey hugged him. “Anything for my bestest bro!”
“How was work?” April asked, sauntering into the lair.
“Oh, I quit,” Leo answered.
Raph spluttered nearby. “You quit? I thought you worked super hard to land that job!”
“Yeah, it wasn’t for me.” Leo changed the channel with the remote. “Although that does reopen that server position. Interested, Raph?”
His brother laughed. “No thanks, I’m good. Hero-ing is a full-time job, y’know.”
“April?”
“Well, Second China just fired me,” she plopped down next to him. “But I think I’m gonna chill for a bit before diving into the next thing.”
“Sounds reasonable. What about you, Donnie? Wait, where is Donnie?”
The Librarian peered over her pink-rimmed glasses all the way down at the creature at the bottom of her podium. She narrowed her eyes. She had hoped she would never see him again. At least the purple turtle had come without his rambunctious brothers, particularly the red one. He had a beaming, hopeful smile stretching across his face as he clutched a single sheet of paper. She sighed.
“How may I help you?”
The turtle squealed and scrambled up her podium. “I have come to submit my application for a position in maintaining your exemplary repository of knowledge,” he whispered excitedly, barely keeping his library voice.
The Librarian looked over the resume he handed her. Donatello was written in a flourish at the top, but otherwise it was very neatly formatted. She gazed suspiciously at him for a moment, then set the paper down.
“I see. Unfortunately, we are not hiring anyone at this time-”
“That’s okay!” Donatello loudly tossed the resume off the podium and grinned. “I’m volunteering my services. You’re welcome.”