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casey couldn’t sleep. there was too much going on in his brain, and too much energy to expel after a boring day. don’t get him wrong - it’s nice not being attacked every five seconds at the farmhouse, but he needs action. and stuff to do.
the hockey player rolled over onto his side to reach for his phone on the bedside table. the screen lit up with a ‘2:47am’. he sighed quietly and put the phone back face down. casey absentmindedly tapped his fingers on the mattress, contemplating what to do.
with a bit of a mental effort, he got up and silently padded over to the window, remaining as quiet as possible to not wake raph whom he was sharing a room with. peering out a gap in the blinds, casey could see the barn lights were on. donnie must be working on something.
‘ I wonder if don knows what time it is.’ casey thought to himself.
grabbing a hoodie from the floor and his sneakers, he snuck downstairs, zipping up the hoodie as he went, and slipping on his shoes at the front door, before undoing the lock and slipping out into the night. the cold night air hit him in the face like a brick, he exhaled sharply through his teeth as he shoved his hands into the hoodie pockets.
as casey made it to the barn door, he could hear donnie tinkering around in there. ‘ he probably got focused on a project and lost track of time again..’
cracking the barn door open wide enough for the hockey player to step through, he made his presence known with a “hey, dee-“, rudely cut off by a short scream from the mutant.
“christ, casey. thank god, it’s just you-“ donnie started, but was quickly cut off by casey. “you know, for a ninja you’re easy to spook.”
“shut up. I was focused!” donnie grumbled, putting down the screwdriver he was holding a little more forcefully than intended.
“what are you doing up anyway?” donatello queried. normally his late night projects went uninterrupted.
“too much goin’ on up in here.” casey knocked his head lightly with a fist before putting his hand back in his pocket. “lo and behold, the great donatello and his fucked up sleep schedule never fails to entertain.”
“why don’t you wake up raph or something.” donnie mumbled, adjusting his glasses before turning his attention back to the project on his bench.
“you know I’d like.. actually be killed if I did that, right?” casey raised an eyebrow at the terrapin.
donnie smirked slightly, obviously amused by the idea. “it’d be like a game of tag that ended with your untimely demise.”
“uh-huh, reeeeal fun.” the hockey player responded, the sarcasm loud and clear in his tone.
a moment of silence passed, aside from the light clanking of tools against metal coming from donnie.
“what’cha workin’ on?” casey finally asked, leaning down to be peering over donnie’s shoulder. a little too close for the ninja’s comfort, honestly.
“just fixing up the engine for the party wagon. you know how it was making unusual noises last time we drove into town?”
casey nodded.
“yeah, well, fixed that. it was just some loose valves. but I thought I could spruce up the whole engine while I was here. give the ol’ van an upgrade.” donnie’s smile grew as he spoke. he liked the fact casey understood most of what he talked about - well, at least when it came to mechanics. not so much the sciences.
“cool, cool.” casey patted donnie on the shoulder. “didn’t take that job as 2am work, though. normally you work on the fun shit in the middle of the night.” he gave donnie’s shoulder, which he hadn’t taken his hand off, a playful shove.
“‘fun shit’?” donnie raised an eyebrow.
“yeah! like the mad scientist shit. you know I like listening about that kinda stuff, right? I might not understand it all but it’s fascinating.”
“woah there, jones, ‘fascinating’ is a big word. didn’t know you knew it!… you like listening to me talk about sciencey shit?” don’s expression went from playful to confusion. he knew for a fact his science rambling often bore his brothers half to sleep. why did casey feel differently?
“you wound me so,” casey dramatically clutched his chest with one hand and held on to the back of donnie’s chair with the other, dropping the act fairly fast and snorting as he laughed. “of course I like listening. you get this sparkle in your eyes when you get excited about your ‘next big discovery’!”
“I don’t think I like sleep deprived casey jones very much, he’s too nice.” donnie tried to hide the faint blush creeping across his cheeks by shoving his chair back and standing up, stretching his arms over his head. shit, he hadn’t actually got up for a couple hours. everything felt stiff.
casey stumbled a little as the chair got shoved back, but quickly righted himself.
“how long exactly have you been in here?” he asked the turtle in front of him.
“um.. what’s the time?”
casey checked his phone which he had put in his sweatpants pocket. “3:10am.”
donnie grimaced sheepishly. “I came out here after dinner.. so…”
“too long. you, mister, need to touch grass.”
“case, I was touching grass all day training with leo- I think I’m fine.”
“no. no, not an excuse. come on, dude, you’re gonna get a headache if you don’t get up and do something. if you’re not gonna sleep, we’re going on an adventure.”
casey held up a finger in a ‘wait a moment’ gesture, walking over to what was deemed ‘his corner’ of the barn, unzipping a duffel bag in the corner. “I haven’t actually had a chance to go skating recently, seeing as we’ve been training n’ shit in the woods. we should head out to the road! I’m sure the moon is enough light, right?”
donnie furrowed his eyebrows, nodding slowly. “I suppose so. it is a full moon.” he watched as casey walked back to him with a pair of inline skates held by the loops on the back of each boot.
“you’ve actually had good skates this whole time and you never took them on missions?” donnie questioned the taller boy.
casey shrugged. “these take time to put on, I think I’d be dead if I had to put these on in the middle of a fight with the foot clan.”
“you’ve nearly twisted your ankle five times in your ‘battle skates’.” donnie deadpanned, doing air quotes. don seemed so certain about that number, casey wondered if the turtle was keeping count of his injuries. because he cared, or because he wanted to make fun of the vigilante in the future?
“it is what it is.” casey shrugged again, knocking his shoulder against donnie’s as he passed him. “come on! moonlight bathed roads await us.”
“you’re really lucky I want to see you fall over in the dark.” the terrapin huffed, following casey quickly after.
-
the pair made their way to an open stretch of road, having tromped through some forest to get to an area casey knew wasn’t such a steep hill as some of the roads around here were.
once they got to the edge of the road, casey sat down, kicking off his sneakers, starting to do up his skates.
donnie was watching him attentively. casey honestly could not tell if don was watching him in general, or just his skates and the mechanics to how they did up.
after getting both skates on, he turned over onto his knees in order to stand up, a smooth well practised movement he clearly did often.
casey noticed donnie hugging himself, shivering slightly. the cold night air did nothing but make him colder for the cold blooded mutant.
“dee, here,” casey had unzipped his hoodie and slipped it off, handing it to donnie, leaving the vigilante in his t shirt and sweatpants.
“you won’t get cold?” donnie asked, tentatively taking the hoodie.
“nah, skating’ll warm me up.”
the mutant gave a short nod, slipping on the hoodie and doing up the zipper. thankfully it was oversized on casey, so fit him well.
he watched the hockey player grin as he started skating backwards, doing a 180 jump in order to skate forwards.
casey skated up and down the stretch of road for what donnie guessed was about half an hour. he watched the hockey player carefully as he did various spins, practising evasive manoeuvres, jumps and tricks, taking this little skating session as training as much as for pleasure.
don would be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed. casey looked so comfortable and fluid on skates, not fumbling once.
well, not fumbling until a wild rat decided it was a fantastic time to run out into the street, causing casey to yelp.
“shit- what the FUCK-“ casey took a sharp turn to bail, A) his fear of rats still remained to a degree and B) not wanting to run right into the creature, but decided to turn right where donnie was standing watching.
“OOF!” the two hit the ground with a groan. luckily for them, the bank on the side of the road was grass.
“fuck- sorry dee, that stupid rat startled me. are you okay?” casey had landed face down on the grass beside donnie, now holding his front up with his arms outstretched.
donnie coughed, having landed on his back and had the wind knocked out of him. luckily, not at all hard enough to damage his shell.
“uh-huh, fine.” he wheezed out. “jesus, case, maybe don’t barrel straight into me next time.”
“well sorry mr. wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time.” casey scoffed in annoyance, but quickly changed his mind and sighed. “sorry. I shoulda been more careful where I bailed.” he added sheepishly.
“fine, fine. one day you gotta get over the rat thing, though.” donnie shut his eyes for a second, regaining his grip on reality.
when he opened his eyes, he noticed just how pretty the night sky was out here, unaffected by the pollution of the big city.
donatello reached out a hand to shake casey’s shoulder, pointing up at the sky once he got the human’s attention.
casey rolled over onto his back, staring up at the sky as well. “holy shit. I forgot how pretty the stars were.”
“it’s a shame new york’s pollution blocks them out most nights.” donnie sighed disheartenedly. “you know I had a phase of studying the stars? it’s not my favourite branch of science, but it’s still interesting.” a soft smile crept across the terrapin’s face as he turned to look at casey. the stars reflected in his dark brown eyes, making a beautiful new galaxy of their own. donnie’s eyes suddenly widened as he snapped his head back to face the sky again. ‘ no. don’t look at him like that. it’s weird and he’d never feel that away about you. ’ donnie’s inner voice scolded him. wait, feel what way?
donnie hated to admit it, but ever since april had told both of them she definitely was not interested, don had been able to look at casey in a new light. not as a rival, as a friend. a friend who made butterflies erupt in your stomach when he smiles at you a certain way, or gets too slightly too close when working on the party wagon together.
donnie was nervously chewing on his bottom lip, watching the stars as they twinkled.
“you okay, don?” casey broke the silence, having shifted onto his side to look at the mutant, his head propped up with his elbow on the ground.
“wh- yes! yeah. fine. just checking out which constellations can be seen from here.” donnie lied with a forced chuckle.
“oh? then do tell, educate me oh smart one.” casey smirked, gesturing to the sky with his free hand.
donnie cleared his throat and started to list off all the constellations and planets that could be seen by the naked eye from their vantage point, giving the occasional fact or backstory about the stars.
casey listened attentively. would he remember this all in a day? probably not. was he enjoying it in the moment? yes, absolutely. donnie’s excited expressions as he rambled on about the facts only sweetened the deal.
“you’re really cute when you infodump.” casey interrupted casually, before actually registering what he had said.
“I- uh-?” donnie turned his head to casey. had the hockey player moved closer before?
“you-you’re really cute.. when you start going on about this shit.” casey continued, but more slowly. “that’s why I like listening to you discuss sciencey shit. you get this goofy grin, and your eyes sparkle with excitement.” well, there was no going back now. casey might as well rub salt in the wound.
“thank.. you?” donnie responded tentatively, absentmindedly playing with the hoodie strings. the hoodie strings of the jacket he still had on, from the guy who just said he looked cute .
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I just said all that.” casey sat up, laughing nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. “we can just like.. imagine that never happened.”
a moment passed.
“I meant it though. I really do like spending time with you and listening. it’s been nice not feeling like ‘rivals’, you know?”
donatello propped himself up into a sitting position as well and gave a little nod in agreement.
“um- yeah. totally. actually, I like talking to you about stuff. a lot. you.. you’re easy to be around. when we’re not fighting over some dumb girl. I really like spending time with you. even if you’re a complete and utter dumbass who’s scared of rats.” donnie added playfully, trying to take the tension out of the air.
“do you think you could be so blinded by a rivalry that you don’t listen to your own feelings?” casey suddenly blurted out after another moment of silence. his face was turning red, although it wasn’t awfully noticeable in the moonlight.
“yes. yeah. I think so.” donnie cleared his throat nervously.
“casey?”
“hm?”
“I think I might have feelings for you. that I’ve tried to ignore. but, god, sometimes when you smile at me the right way I get nauseous. good nauseous. you know? I never got that with april- I think I was just… fixated on her and I—“
donnie was cut off by casey yanking him forward, having grabbed a fistful of the hoodie. “sorry to interrupt, can I kiss you?” casey asked with wide, nervous eyes.
donnie stammered for a second, before managing a “yes”.
casey wasted no time closing the few inches between their lips. the kiss was soft and slow, casey tilting his head to one side slightly.
the two of them pulled apart after a few seconds. it was short, but sweet.
“well, I guess that calms down the ‘what if he doesn’t feel the same way and is going to never talk to me again’ nerves.” donnie was the first to speak. of course he started rambling.
“I’m so glad to finally get that out of the way. the feelings talk.” casey laughed breathlessly, cupping donnie’s cheek in his hand. “can’t believe we didn’t do that sooner. all cuz of a girl.”
donnie laughed as well, leaning into casey’s touch. he usually wasn’t one for physical affection, but this… he didn’t mind.
“we should- we should probably head back before the others wake up. you know leo get’s up at 5am.” donnie reluctantly broke the comfortable silence that had fallen over them. as much as he just wanted to stay here, he knew his brothers would get worried if they were nowhere to be seen.
casey cleared his throat. “yeah, uh-huh, totally.” he quickly peered at his phone. 4:45am. they better get going.
he quickly undid his skates, kicking them off and slipping back on his sneakers before standing up, offering a hand out to help donnie to his feet.
donnie accepted, getting up, but not letting go of casey’s hand afterwards.
“your hands are sweaty.” don spoke unfiltered, getting a bit too tired to keep that sort of comment to himself.
“your hands are cold.” casey retorted playfully.
“I’m cold blooded, jones, we’ve been over this-“
“I know, I know, you think I’d forget facts about one of my favourite mutants?”
“… one of your favourites?”
“you know raph would kill me if he wasn’t at least.. in my top 3.”
“you’ve got a point.”
this friendly banter continued as the two of them walked home, donnie refusing to let casey’s hand go the whole way back to the farmhouse. he never thought he would be initiating let alone maintaining prolonged physical contact, but here he was.
and it felt nice. comforting. warm.