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Friday nights were the greatest. Well, they were great after they all met April, before her. Fridays were just like any other day. But after meeting April, they became fun. She could stay up way longer than on a school day and she didn’t have to worry about her parents because Friday nights were their “date night”. Then, after she became thirteen, she convinced her parents she didn’t need a babysitter anymore and was allowed to stay home alone. Of course, the first thing she did was invite her very best friends over. She gave them the grand tour of her apartment. Which ended in a call for a very large pizza order and a Mario kart tournament that had remained tradition to this day. Even if that tradition was only a few months old.
Now, that’s when Friday nights became the greatest.
And it was on such a day that Leo, Donnie, and April found themselves in a three-way battle. Their race carts zooming on the screen, all vying for the sweet spot of first place. Usually, the outcome of such a battle was assured. Leo being the second best at the game, having recently lost the Champ title to Mikey last Friday night, would on a normal day leave his two current adversaries in the digital dust. However, whatever curse that had afflicted him last time seemed to have lingered.
The bronze colored number three taunted him at the corner of his section of the screen.
“Heheheh, watch me roast you suckers!” The current leader of the race, April, said with a manic grin. Her eyes were on the screen, her Koopa cart swerving just in time to pick up yet another speed boost. Between them sat Donnie. He was hunched over and his drawn on eyebrows were furrowed as he activated a trap for all the cart drivers behind him, keeping his fifth place spot firmly in place. He mumbled something in response to April’s taunt, but not much more. Then there was Leo. In third place, with his brother and some npc threatening to take even that away from him. He honestly couldn’t decide which fate would be worse.
But winners don’t dwell on whether they were gonna lose, instead, they only focused on winning. So, with that in mind, he focused on reclaiming his rightful place. The next speed boost he saw, he drove straight for it. He lost a little control in his dash toward it, but he claimed it, which more than made up for it. Leo grinned. He could make this work.
Coming up on his screen, a prize box respawned on the road, an easy steal thanks to the boost. Even if it was on the other side of the road. Leo dove for it. If it was a banana, a bomb, or rocket. He would make it work and he would reclaim first place. All he needed to do was to-
A Koopa shell smacked into him, causing his cart to spiral out of control and miss the prize box completely.
“No, no, no, no!” He said, rapidly tapping his controller, trying in vain to regain control of his cart and move on. Forget the box, all that matter was to keep his-
The npc and Donnie’s carts drove right pass him, effectively knocking him down to fifth place.
He gritted his teeth, finally getting control again before he fell even more behind. But the damage had been done. Without a speed boost or prize box to aid him, the infuriating gap between him and the other two players was impossible to cover. He flicked his eyes over at April and Donnie’s screen. She still had a bright gold one on hers and Donnie had passed the npc and claimed third.
That...that was-it was fine. It’s just a game, everybody wins one! That’s just how it works. And everybody loses some, that’s completely normal too. He couldn’t be the winner all the time. That wouldn’t be fair to the others. Yeah. That’s just how it works. Even if...even if...
His eyes flicked down at the console. It would be sooo easy to just pull. Just a little tug, and if he did it right, the entire console would unplug and not just his controller. He could even play it off as an accident. Those happen, so what if it was a little convenient? So what? All they would have to do was play another round and next time, all would be fair.
Just a little tug.
Leo felt the inside of his palms itch. His eyes kept flicking down. With a deep breath, he gripped his controller and...
Slouched down onto the couch’s armrest. A miserable frown formed on his face as the guilt of what he almost done came over him. Even he wasn’t that low.
He just had to take the L this time. No biggie. It sucked, but whatever.
With that in mind, he relaxed. Grabbing a prize box on his way towards a speed boost.
Yeah, and honestly, they were worst people to lose to than his best friend and brother. This was meant to be fun. Just a game.
“Watch out O’Neil, I’m catching up to you!” Donnie crowed.
Leo’s eyes widened, looking up at his brother’s section of the screen. Sure enough, that was a silver two blazing up at the corner.
“Ha, just try Tech boy. You got miles before you reach me!” April said. She bumped her shoulder against his, causing Donnie to sway over and nearly fumble with his controller.
“Hey! Watch it, you cheater!”
“How was that cheating? I barely touched you.”
“So you say, but I know what you were trying to do. Scared of the competition.” He said with a smug grin. “It’s gonna take more than that to get me to lose, not after I’ve come so far!” Donnie leaned further towards the t.v., his grin now a manic smile. “like the phoenix of legend, I rise from the ashes!”
April laughed, she too leaning forward as she ensured her lead was kept.
This...this was fine. They’re having fun. That’s what matters. Yeah. Just. Have. Fun.
“Unlike dear Leon,” Donnie said, snickering to himself. “Quite the fall from grace, don’t you say, former-Champ?”
Leo went rigid.
“Yeah,” He said, a plastic smile on his face. “Your right. But ain’t it just how it goes?” He pushed himself up from the armrest. “Eh, brother?” and he threw his entire weight into the shoulder bump he gave Donnie. More of a shoulder slam really, and just as expected, the turtle in purple was shoved right into April. With how far forward they were both leaning, they were barely sitting on the couch anymore, so when they slammed into each other, they fell right off the couch and in a flailing mass of limbs. Controllers and all.
Leo took his chance. He barely heard their yells and accusations as he blasted the npc ahead of him out of the way, garnering fourth place. It wasn’t long until he had passed a second npc, and on his way of passing the third npc in his way, he drove straight past Donnie’s stationary cart. He was now in second place. Now all he needed to do was to pass-
“Yes!”
It was so close, he could see the finish line now. The golden one pulsated brightly in his corner of his section of the screen. Right where it belonged. He was almost there. The checkered line was in sight.
He was going to win!
The screen went black.
“Wha-Hey!” Leo yelled. “What gives?”
He looked down to see Donnie and April glaring up at him from the floor, and in Donnie’s hand was the console’s power cord.
“Yo, low blow bro.”
“Scoff, excuse me?” Donnie said, bringing a hand up to his chest. “I wasn’t the one who shoved my opponents off the couch in order to win!”
“I didn’t shove you guys.” Leo said. The words coming out faster than his brain could think. “I simply...nudged ya. It’s not my fault you fell off. You need better balance. Besides,” he pointed at Donnie, “I wasn’t the one to drag April down either. That was all you, bro. Didn’t think you’d win, so you thought to mess her up? Really, Don.” he crossed his arms and shook his head, “That’s so childish.”
Donnie’s green skin had a definite tinge of red behind it, and if the flared nostrils and bared teeth were anything to go by, he looked ready to blow a gasket.
“Leo,” April said, placing a hand on Donnie’s shoulder and giving the slider a stern frown. “We all know that’s not what happened.”
Leo looked between the two of them and sighed.
“Yeah, you’re right April.”
She sighed and smiled up at him. Even Donnie seemed to relax a bit.
“Donnie totally overreacted cuz he knew he wasn’t gonna beat you and wanted me to be the scapegoat. What a real jerk.”
Just as Donnie lunged, April wrapped her arms around his chest and pulled him back. She narrowed her eyes up at Leo, who had flinched away from his snarling brother.
“Leonardo...” she said, giving the slider her best glare.
Leo glared right back, uncurling from his defensive position and puffing out his chest.
“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
She groaned, rolling her eyes for good measure.
Leo looked away. He knew she didn’t believe him and there was no way Donnie was ever going to buy the story. But it wasn’t like they had any clear proof he did it on purpose, anyway. They were just assuming, which was rude. It could have been an accident, and they were just being mean because they thought he was cheating. He wasn’t. Champions weren’t cheaters, and he was a champion.
He looked back down at the two of them, expecting glares again. But instead, he found that the two of them were whispering with each other and to make it even weirder, once they notice him looking at them, they both gave him identical creepy smiles.
He had no interest in finding out what that meant.
“Well,” he said. Scooting over the armrest, all intention of running out of the open window in the room. “This had been...something, but I’ll be going now. Play with ya when you two feel like being better sports.”
Leo’s feet barely touched the floor when the two of them launched themselves at him. With a yelp, he somehow slid out of the way of their grasp and crawled his way to freedom.
“Not so fast!” April yelled. Grabbing on his mask tails and yanking his head back. He fell back onto the floor with a thud. “Donnie, quick, pin him!”
“On it!”
Donnie slammed into Leo, wrapping his arms around him, effectively pinning his arms to his side. In all ridiculousness, this was the closest thing to a hug his purple clad brother had given him in a long time. He didn’t appreciate it.
“Let. Go Donnie.” He said. He twisted his body around, hoping for some leeway. Being a slider, it made holding him down very hard, but by the great pizza supreme in the sky, Donnie was making quite an effort to keep him down.
“Hurry April, I can’t do this forever.”
“All right, I’m hurrying.”
Leo heard April scoot across the floor until her knees were just in view. She had stopped just by his head, so all he had to do was shift his neck a little to look up at her.
“What are you guys doing? I’m gonna tell Raph...and Dad if you don’t stop!”
“You cheated, so you must pay the cheater’s price.” April said pompously. She glared down at Leo, dropping the silly voice. “That and you’re being a real brat, so I don’t feel any remorse for this at all.”
“For what?”
She smiled wickedly just before putting her finger in her mouth. She popped it out and brought the saliva covered digit closer to his head. The answer hit Leo right then and there.
“Wait, wait, wait, waitwaitwait!” his voice reaching a new octave with each word, a shaky smile came to his face as he tried thrashing out of his traitorous brother’s hold again. “Let’s talk about this!”
“Too late cheater!” Donnie said. Tightening his hold over his brother even more.
“C’mon! It was just one game. I didn’t even get to win it. C’mon, April! Donnie!”
Leo tried shielding the closest ear he had away from the saliva covered finger.
“So you admit you cheated?” April asked.
“Nng.”
“That wasn’t a yes.” Donnie said.
“No, it wasn’t,”
Leo closed his eyes as he felt April’s finger come closer. Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!
“Nng, Fine! Fine! I cheated! I wanted to win, so I pushed Donnie off the couch. You were just a bonus, April. I swear, now stop it!”
“Wow,” she said. “I didn’t think you actually admit it.” There was a pause. “I’m proud of you Leo.”
He relaxed. Good.
“So, can ya let me go now?”
“Oh, no.”
He tensed right back up.
“You still cheated.”
Leo then felt a cold, slimy finger enter his ear.
He let out a shrill, ear-splitting scream.