Archive of Our Own

 Casey Jones Jr. never saw the inside of a hospital before.

 Well, not properly anyways. There’d been a number of scouting missions that had him and the rest of his team digging through the broken and abandoned buildings during the apocalypse. Desperate for any functioning medical supplies. 

 None of those were fond memories. If they were lucky the halls were dark and empty. If they weren’t they’d find bodies. The buildings that were clearly broken into early on in the invasion often left corpses in pieces, dried blood along the walls, but others that’d been abandoned in a panic were somehow sadder. The bodies were fewer, but they were shriveled up in the remaining hospital beds. Left behind along with the building. 
 
 Casey tried not to dwell on it, and upon coming to the present he only knew of hospitals from the outside. Even with the injuries sustained from the kraang invasion, they handled it all in the turtle’s lair. 

 This is all to say, when he awoke inside of a hospital, he almost panicked. 

 The blank room, the smell of five layers of antiseptic and cleaners, the horrifying beep of a nearby monitor.

 He sat up in an instant, wondering if he’d been kidnapped. He stared at the tube emerging from his arm and almost ripped it out. 

 “Yo, relax.”

 Cassandra’s voice made him do just that, if only a little. Only now did he see her sitting off to the side, phone in hand. 

 He slumped back in the bed. “Where the heck am I?”

 “The hospital, do you not remember anything?”

 He squinted. For a second he didn’t so he retraced his steps for the day. It’d been going just as usual, walking Comet to school, then going to Draxum’s high school, hanging out in the library until lunch where he met up with his friends and his boyfriend in the cafeteria. They’d all been talking and laughing and then Casey asked about the candy Annie dumped on the table. 

 “What, you haven’t seen these before?” She held up the orange wrapped treat, the name written on it in bubbly letters. “Well, now you have to try one. Especially since they’re so close to your boyfriend’s name.”

 Reece groaned. “If you get him to start calling me Reese’s Cup I’m never talking to any of you again.”

 The table laughed. Casey did too as he unwrapped the candy, chocolate by the looks of it. He’d eaten chocolate before at the lair now and then, so he casually popped it into his mouth.

 Then his mouth started tingling strange, as if the candy were spicy. And then a few minutes later it suddenly got very hard to breathe. 

 It got so hazy after that. He remembered someone at the table pointed out how red his face got. He remembered falling over as he tried to force air into his lungs. He remembered Reece screaming for help. 

 Draxum had shown up at some point, along with the school nurse. Something sharp hit his thigh and breathing became just a little easier, but barely. 

 After that it got even more muddled as more strangers showed up. He didn’t have the coherence or the energy to fight against being dragged around. He must have been brought here because now he remembered this room, but—

 “What happened?” He asked this time. “My memory is such a blur.”

 “You had an allergic reaction to something.” Cassandra kept typing on her phone, maybe alerting the others that he was awake. “Your classmates apparently reported you ate a peanut butter cup before you had a reaction.” 

 “Peanut butter? Is that what that other flavor was?”

 “You haven’t had peanut butter before?”

 “I don’t think so.” Was that really that strange? He’d at least heard of the stuff before, but rarely sought it out. It took months for him to adjust his diet fully to all the food in the present, and even when he did, he preferred to stick to things he knew to avoid feeling nauseous again. Draxum’s cooking, Mikey’s cooking, and the occasional pizza or tacos with friends were about as far as he’d go. 

 Now that he thought of it, neither the turtles or Draxum ever kept peanut butter in their kitchens. 

 “Well, the doctor recommends never eating it again.” Cassandra sat up. “Glad you’re up though. They said you would be after you passed out, but Draxum won’t stop pestering me for updates.”

 Casey blinked at her. “Why are you here?”
 
 “Because, some human had to keep an eye on you since the others can’t and your classmates couldn’t just ditch school.” She snapped and stood. “I’m going to get a snack since I’m waiting for the doctor to let you out. Do you want anything?” 

 Casey frowned. His head felt like it was full of cotton and his stomach even more so. “Nah, I’m good for now.” 

 It took a few more hours for Casey to get out of the hospital. The doctor explained to him what happened, and why they wanted to monitor him in case of a secondary reaction. With no additional symptoms they finally released him, though they insisted he get a ride home rather than walk. Cassandra got them a taxi, stopping off at a corner store for something call Benedryl. The doctor recommended it just in case.

 Casey read the label on the box before being dropped off outside the apartment building. Cassandra asked if he wanted help upstairs but he waved her off and headed inside.

 He got one step into his and Draxum’s apartment when the alchemist suddenly grabbed him by the arms.

 “Casey, are you alright?” Draxum picked him up and glanced him over.

 “Yeah, I’m fine. Wasn’t the other Casey sending you updates?”

 “Yes, but I want to see it with my own eyes.” His father figure set him down. “Walk around for me. Move your arms. Open your mouth.”

 “Dad.” Casey narrowed his eyes. “I’m fine, I promise. Just an allergic reaction to uh… peanut butter?” 

 Draxum did settle down. Must be more confused now judging by how he tilted his head. “You have a peanut allergy as well?”

 “What do you mean, ‘as well?’”

 “Well—” He began only to pause. “Actually, I can’t remember which of the turtles it is, but I know it’s one of them. Mikey often talks about having to use substitutes for things like peanut oil.”

 Guess that explained why they never had any peanut butter.

 “Regardless, something to be mindful of. I’m surprised it wasn’t brought to your attention sooner.”

 Casey shrugged and went to drop his bag off on the sofa. “Well, not like we had access to peanuts during the apocalypse. And if neither you or the turtles keep it around, there’s a slim chance of me running into it.” Only now did he pull his phone out of his bag, seeing the wall of texts from his friends and his boyfriend. Annie left a dozen apologies in the group chat.

 Casey swiftly told them that he was fine now and not to apologize. He didn’t know any more than they did. They obviously didn’t do it on purpose. 

 He put the device away and turned to find Draxum standing right behind him.

 “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” The alchemist kept studying him up and down.

 “Yes, Dad, I’m fine.” Casey used the title with sarcasm as he lightly nudged him away. He went to the kitchen to grab some water. His throat felt unbelievably dry even after chugging three cups at the hospital. 

 He truthfully didn’t mind Draxum’s occasional overbearing nature. Casey was one of the few people who even got to see it after being his roommate for, what, over a year now? Crazy how fast time moved.

 Mikey convinced him to move in here about a month and a half after the invasion, because Casey ultimately wasn’t coping well with his new situation. Truthfully the only fix to the whole mess was time, but being with the alchemist helped. He understood some of what Casey was dealing with, and was always blunt and direct with his thoughts on the matter. 

 Eventually, it became Casey’s new normal. Eventually he began to call Draxum “Dad” as a joke. Eventually it quit being so much of a joke. The final nail of that coffin was hammered in about a month and a half ago when the turtles recorded Draxum calling Casey his son. 

 Not that the alchemist had made the same slip up since, but as always his actions spoke louder than words. 

 “Honestly, just another weird thing to add to the table.” Casey muttered as he finished off the glass and refilled it.

 Draxum stood nearby, clearly still watching him closely. “What do you mean?”

 “I mean, a peanut allergy?” He put down the cup and held up his hands, taking off one of his gloves. “This apparent eczema or whatever April called it?” He pointed to the red spots of skin on the thumb joint of his palm. Truthfully not as bad as it could be right now. The medication helped keep it away on both his hands and his back, but he used his hands so often that sometimes the medicine couldn’t keep up. 

 He put his glove back on. “That’s not mentioning the weird thick skin on my back, that my canines are way longer than they should be, and according to you and everyone else my appetite is way bigger than normal.”

 “I thought we assumed that had to do with your diet adjusting to actually having food.” Draxum crossed his arms. 

 “Yeah but it’s been months. Why hasn’t it leveled out?” Casey groaned and finished off another glass before finally putting it in the sink. Now he just had to use the bathroom again. “Leo even jokes that I eat as much as Raph.” 

 Once again, the alchemist tilted his head. “I imagine this is a bit of a personal question, but remind me, you have no idea who your other parent is correct?”

 Casey blinked at him. “Huh? No. Why does that matter?”

 “I just wonder if it’s worth considering your genetics for some of these things. They obviously don’t stem from your mother.”

 That was true, wasn’t it. But no one in his family from the future seemed to want to talk about who Casey’s other parent was. The rare moments it came up when he was speaking to their spirits, they hushed each other.

 It irritated him, and part of him would yell about it until they talked, but it didn’t seem worthwhile. 

 “Maybe,” he eventually mumbled. “But if my family isn’t talking, I’m not sure how to find out.” 

 “If I may suggest,” Draxum took a step closer. “You should talk to Donatello.” 

 Casey made his way into the lair a few days later, Comet bounding along next to him. They just got out of school and Casey was doing his usual routine of taking them home. 

 The little mushroom yōkai—though they were disguised as a human right now—came to live with the turtles a little over a month ago. After an apartment explosion orphaned them, Raph wound up more or less adopting them. The snapper still refused to let anyone call him a dad but, well…

 Casey avoided teasing him about it, but the other turtles certainly didn’t. 

 He watched Comet sprint ahead of him after they reached the bottom of the entrance stairway. Their black hair swayed behind them, but steadily vanished as they shifted back into their true form. The spots on their cap lit up green as they kept going, likely in search of Raph. 

 Casey just kept following. He knew where Donatello’s lab was, but he’d texted the softshell before showing up today. The turtle was still at work in the Hidden City.

 He went all the way to the kitchen in order to catch up. Raph was indeed there, now holding Comet up next to his face and smiling.

 He noticed Casey in an instant. “Oh hey, CJ, sticking around today?” 

 “Yeah, I need to talk to Donnie.” He deposited his school bag on the nearest chair for the time being. “But I know he’s at work right now. Figured I’d hang out.” 

 “Sure,” Raph grinned. “You can help Comet with their homework.” 

 The seven year old straightened up, colors shifting from pink to red.

 “No.” They spoke through telepathy. “No homework already.” 

 “It’s the middle of the week. I know you have some to do.”

 “Nooo.” They fell back, draping over Raph’s hand. 

 “Come on,” the snapper bounced them back upright. “Let’s at least see what’s on the to-do list. I bet we can knock some of it out really fast.” 

 Casey sat with them at the table as Comet pulled their school books out. They didn’t look happy about any of it, but got to work on their vocabulary all the same. 

 “How are you feeling, by the way?” Raph asked when the child was fully occupied. “We all heard about your whole allergy thing.” 

 Casey shrugged. “I feel fine? Throat still feels kind of dry, though.”

 Raph smiled at him. “What did it taste like anyway? Peanut butter I mean.”

 “You haven’t had it?”

 “Nah, I found out about my allergy from peanut oil that dad used for some cooking. Not a fun time for any of us.” The snapper cringed. “Least of all me. 

 Casey recalled how suffocating the whole thing felt. “I can imagine. Not sure you’re missing much though? I imagine putting a bunch of sugar into sesame paste would taste kinda similar.”

 “Really? Maybe I should ask Mikey to try it sometime.” Raph tapped his chin and finally glanced at Comet’s work book. “Ack! No Comet, that word is an adjective not an adverb.” 

 Casey sat with them for another hour, getting up once to grab a drink and a snack. Sometimes he’d try to help with the assignments, but despite all the education his family of the future gave him, and all the reading he’d been doing in the high school library, he wasn’t sure how to go about answering questions for second graders. 

 They got to the math pages when Donnie finally returned home. The softshell entered the kitchen with his arms out. 

 “Yes, your genius scientist and engineer has returned home. You may applaud whenever you feel like it.” 

 Raph rolled his eyes while Comet actually clapped their hands together.

 “Well, someone is happy to see me.” Donnie stepped over to the little mushroom and rubbed the top of their head. 

 “Yeah,” Raph agreed. “Because someone wants you to do their math homework for them.”

 Comet puffed out their cheeks.

 Donnie smiled, then glanced at Casey. “And hello, CJ, did you still need to discuss something with me?”

 He nodded. “Yeah, if you’ve got the time.”

 “I do now! Come, let’s go talk in my lab.” 

 Comet held up the sheet of paper and waved it at the softshell.

 “I shall assist with your homework when we’re done,” Donnie said. “Until then, take a break perhaps?” 

 “Yeah,” Raph stood and plucked Comet off the chair. “They got through most of it anyway. Come on, Muffin Top, snack time.”

 The mushroom clapped their hands together again.

 Casey followed Donnie to his lab. The main door opened to another set of doors on opposite sides, one to his room and the other to the actual lab. 

 The work space looked so much sparser these days. It still had a massive computer tower with a handful of monitors and some equipment, but so much of the building materials and work benches had been migrated to his other lab in the Hidden City. 

 “So, what’s on your mind?” Donnie began as he sauntered over to the monitors in question. He glanced at the screens, studying them, then closed a few windows. “If it has to do with your newfound allergies, no I don’t know a cure yet, sorry. I’ve been trying to discover one for Raph.”

 Casey smiled and leaned against a nearby wall. “Nah. I’ve lived this long without peanuts. I think I can keep going. But it is related to that.”

 “Oh?”

 “Draxum said I should ask you about potentially tracking down who my other biological parent is.” 

 Donnie spun around in an instant, his eyes wide. “You want me to run a test and search them out?”

 “Is that possible?”

 “Of course it is.” The softshell beamed. “But, well, that still won’t guarantee results.” He put a hand to his chin, smiling fading into a serious frown. “While there are a lot of data banks holding genetic information, mostly thanks to a lot of fools sending it in for ancestry tests, not every person does that. Going through databases may not turn up with anything.”

 Casey shrugged. “But it’s worth trying?”

 “I don’t see why not. It may also take some time, however. That is a lot of data to shift through if we have no way of narrowing it down.” 

 Casey snorted. “Well, if my peanut allergies are in fact genetic you could start there?”

 “A decent idea!” He spun back to the computer and began to type. “Can I ask why you’re suddenly so curious? You never seemed interested in this before.”

 Casey stepped over to actually see what he was typing. A program, already setting up the code to run a data mine search. “Draxum thinks if I find out who my other parent was, I can avoid any more biological surprises. I mean, next I’m going to find out I’m doomed to go grey in my thirties.” 

 Donnie looked up for a moment. “Knowing what I do about human hair, that may possibly occur simply due to the stress you experience during a war.” 

 Casey groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

 Donnie shrugged. “It’s just hair. If you don’t like it you can shave it off like Cassandra does.” Then he looked at Casey. “Speaking of hair, where am I getting your DNA from? Hair, spit, blood?” 

 He sighed. “Whatever works best.”

 Donatello cracked his knuckles and leaned back in his seat.

 It’d taken quite a bit of set up to get here. First isolating Junior’s DNA, then isolating the patterns that came from his mom so the program would focus on the other patterns. Then he had to rip information from tons of databases and put all of them, including his own, into one program for it to search through. 

 But, with the pieces finally in place, all he had to do was let it run.

 “Alright.” He tapped enter to kickstart it and stood. “Now to let that go and reward myself. Perhaps I’ll see if Holly Blue is free to get some snacks at—”

 The computer dinged.

 Donatello froze. Why did it ding? It shouldn’t ding unless it found a match and there’s no way it found a match that fast. 

 He immediately spun back towards his monitor, staring at the center screen where the result was displayed.

 The air left his lungs, making it very difficult to even mumble the word, “What?” 

 That couldn’t be right. No way.

 His treat would have to wait. He needed to look into this.

 Casey didn’t expect a text from Donnie only one day after announcing the start of the search. The softshell insisted it could take days, weeks even. 

 Still, Casey was eager for answers. He reported that he’d swing by the lair after bringing Comet home and did just that. 

 “Find Dad?” Comet kept their gaze forward as the pair of them walked along the street. 

 Casey nodded, answering verbally out of habit. “Yeah, at least according to Donnie.”

 “Not excited?”

 He shrugged. “I just don’t think it matters much apart from figuring out my genetic history or whatever. Not like I’m going to go and meet the guy, right?”

 “Perhaps.” Comet ended the conversation as they entered the lair.

 Casey let them run off to find Raph and he went straight for the lab. The doors were open, but they shut the second he walked inside. 

 He found Donnie sitting at his computer desk, fingers bridged and resting in front of his nose as he stared at the screen. Casey couldn’t make out what he was looking at, a massive stream of letters. Was that DNA code?

 “Hey,” Casey announced just in case the softshell didn’t hear him come in. “You said you had the results?” 

 Donnie spun around, moving his hands to his lap. His gaze fixed on Casey, intense and unmoving. “Yes, and before we go any further I want to be clear I haven’t told anyone else about this, and made it clear to Comet that they aren’t to go speaking about it.”

 That got him to frown and the faint nervousness he felt earlier sprung back up at full force. “Okay? Is it something bad?”

 “It isn’t bad. Just unexpected. Or maybe it shouldn’t be unexpected.” Donnie sighed, his gaze moving up. “After all, if I bothered to think about it for more than twenty seconds when you reported your skin problems and dietary issues and—”

 “Donnie.” Casey interrupted and approached the monitors. “Can you just tell me? Putting it off is just making me anxious.”

 “Fine, very well.” The turtle spun back around and tapped a few keys. The screen changed. “This was the result.” 

 Casey focused his gaze at the image on the screen.

 His school bag fell off his shoulder and hit the ground. 

 “Uh, Donnie.” He forced a smile and almost forced a laugh and what was obviously a poor attempt at a joke. “That’s a picture of Raph.”

 Donatello just stared at him.

 “Donnie, this has to be a joke.” Casey gestured at the screen. “I mean Raph is… he’s an entire turtle. Mutant turtle, whatever, do you see any scales on my face?”

 The softshell immediately grabbed Casey’s arm and tugged his glove off his hand.

 “No, but I do recall you struggle regularly with eczema. Not only from dryness but due to it flaking off in sections.”

 Casey wrenched his hand back. “That doesn’t mean it has to do with scales.”

 “You have thicker skin on your back,” Donnie continued. “You have sharper canines. A large appetite. A peanut allergy. You know I haven’t actually tested how long you can hold your breath, would you like to?”

 “This is crazy.” He mumbled. “Are you sure your program didn’t mess something up?”

 “I am. Because you see, Junior, no sooner than I started the search, I got a result. And much like you, I couldn’t believe it. So I took the time to compare everything myself.” He tapped a few more buttons on the keyboard, pulling up the comparisons. “It’s a match.” 

 “But that can’t be right.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Because if it is then… then…” 

 Then his mother lied to him.

 His uncles and aunt lied to him. 

 If Raph really was his father there was no way they all didn’t know. None of them told him. Not even Raph himself did. 

 And yet somehow it made sense. It made so much sense now, why the massive snapper would always look at him that way when they spoke. Why he held Casey every chance he got. 

 Why being in his arms felt so achingly familiar. 

 But he still didn’t understand. Why did none of them tell him? As if he hadn’t asked more than once. As if he hadn’t wondered. It was always brushed aside with his guardians insisting that it didn’t matter. And Casey came to believe that. 

 But it did matter. If this was true, then it mattered so much. Because his father had been so close the entire time and Casey just kept treating him like a stranger. Did that even bother the giant snapping turtle? Is that what he wanted? For the two of them to just be completely disconnected from each other for some stupid reason?
 
 “Casey?”

 He blinked, only now noticing the tears lining his eyes. Only now noticing the pain in his fingers and his palms as he clenched his fists. He forced himself to breathe, but it did nothing to quell the rage boiling in his chest. 

 Donnie tried to speak to him again. “Casey.”

 He saw the purple turtle move in the corner of his vision.

 Casey bolted for the door, grateful when it opened at his presence rather than force him to struggle with it. 

 He couldn’t just stand there in the lab. He needed to talk to his family right now. He needed answers right now.

 Casey sprinted through the main hall and up the stairs. He didn’t stop when he reached the streets. He went straight for the nearest building he could climb and scaled his way to the top. Even with all the motion and the faint strain on his arms he was hardly out of breath. He always chalked that up to his physical fitness, but now he wondered if lung capacity did have something to do with it. 

 He stepped to the center of the roof and sat down, squeezing his eyes shut. He didn’t even know if this would work with his heart and his mind in such turmoil. Focus eluded him, constantly stomped out with snaps of rage and even anguish. 

 But he kept his eyes closed, kept reaching out. Not even for anyone specific, just anyone brave enough to answer him. Because they were always watching, they must know he found out, they must see how he reacted. 

 It took a few more inhales and exhales for him to hear a voice.  

 “You do have every right to be upset.” 

 Casey opened his eyes to look at Raph, his Raph. The one who stood at least a foot taller than he did in the present. Whose scales were lined with a lot more scars. Whose voice came out deeper, yet somehow softer. 

 It was always strange to see him after Casey learned how to do this. Because all the others he recognized, he knew. They were faces and voices he grew up with. He had no clear memories of Raph. 

 Of his father.

 Casey stood, as if it would give him any more height over the massive snapping turtle. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

 At least Raphael met his gaze rather than turn away. But his thumbs—that were touching as his hands sat folded in his lap—tapped together. The same nervous habit of the Raph in this time. 

 “I… It’s a bit complicated to explain.”

 “Explain it anyway.” Casey snapped. “And how come you’re the only one here?” He glanced around in the void they stood in, though on the fringes of it he could see the blurry walls of a room. Far too covered in shadows to make out the details. 

 Raphael actually laughed at that. “Well, the others were too afraid, to be honest.”

 Casey kept glaring at him. “Even Mom?”

 “Nah, in her case it was more like… she insisted I should be the one to handle this, since it was my idea.” 

 He blinked, feeling tears burning in his eyes again. “So you just… what? Wish we were never related?”

 Raphael’s eyes went wide. The tapping stopped. “What? No, Casey, never.”

 “Then what’s the point?” He screamed. “What’s the point of leaving me in the dark?”

 The snapper sighed. “I… Casey you were born during a war.”

 This already sounded like a poor explanation, but he bit his tongue. No sense in interrupting until he got the full story. 

 “And when you were born, Cassandra and I told each other that if we died before you got to know us, you’d be better off never finding out.”

 Okay, to hell with not interrupting. “Excuse me?” He stomped forward so he could grip the cloak that rested over his father’s shoulders. They were practically at eye level. “Why the hell did you think that would be better?”

 Raphael narrowed his eyes, but not quite into a glare. “It was a war, Casey. I didn’t want you to mourn and grieve over someone you didn’t even know. I didn’t want you trying to live up to the expectations of someone who wasn’t even alive. Your mom and I agreed on this but… I saw how much it killed her to avoid telling you the truth. Sometimes I regretted it, but eventually she died without telling you and no one else did either.” 

 Casey tried to shake him, but despite jerking the cloak, the turtle didn’t budge. “So what? Then even after the war is over, after I find a way to talk to you all again, you still don’t tell me?”

 “I thought about it.” Raphael raised his voice. “I wanted to but… I didn’t know how to bring it up.” 

 Casey thought about those words. Thought about how he said them to the Cassandra of this time when she demanded to know how they were related. 

 She’d called him a coward for hiding it, full of anger and spite because she hated people keeping secrets. 

 At least now he understood how she felt. 

 “Look, Casey, I’m sorry about all of this.” Raphael reached up to grab his arm. 

 He jerked away from the contact. “So you just weren’t going to tell me? Uncle Leo wasn’t going to tell me? Or Mikey? Or Donnie? And Mom lectured me about how much she hates secrets while she’s doing this?” 

 “Me being your mom—dad, whatever—was my secret to tell.” 

 “It shouldn’t even be a secret.” Casey screamed. “I had a right to know. I had the right to know the moment I asked when I was a child. And if you really needed to keep it from me during the war, you should have told me the moment I arrived here.” 

 Raphael sighed, his shoulders sagging. “I know. I’m sorry.” 

 Casey knew that he was. And a small part of him wanted to ask more questions. A small part of him actually wanted to get to know the person who was half the reason he existed. 

 But anger clouded over all of that. And if he didn’t get out of here soon, he’d try to smash through the first thing he could see. 

 “Don’t contact me.” Casey spat.

 Raphael looked genuinely hurt by that. “Case—”

 “Don’t!” He raised his voice. “Not you. Not mom. Not any of them. If I want to hear from any of you, I’ll come in here myself. Understand?”

 He waited for his father to argue with him. He wanted his father to argue with him. 

 But Raphael only gave a small nod and said, “I understand.” 

 Casey ripped himself out of their joint space in an instant.

 His eyes opened to the roof of the building once more. The daylight felt so wrong. Like it should be cloudy, or grey, or raining, or at the very least night time. 

 Instead the sun taunted him, sitting in the bright blue sky that he marveled at so much when he first arrived here. No smog, no haze, no ships drifting through the air watching for any unsuspecting prey. 

 He still wanted to smash something. Stomping on the roof hardly relieved any of it. With nothing to throw, the only thing he could do was sprint over to the AC unit and slam his fist into it. 

 The metal gave with a loud crunch. The entire wall of it caved into a massive dent.

 He pulled his hand free, feeling the bruising in his knuckles but not giving a damn. 

 He had to get out of here. He had to—

 He had to go home.

 Casey knocked on the door to his apartment.

 He didn’t have his key. He left all his stuff at the lair and absolutely did not want to go back for it. He just sprinted all the way home, which at least burned some of his rage off, but not enough. 

 Now he stood here with his arms crossed, resisting the urge to smash his fist through the door. 

 Finally it opened, revealing Draxum’s whose expression of annoyance shifted to one of concern. “Casey? Why are you knocking? What happened to your key?” 

 Excuses sat on the tip of his tongue, or the truth even, but he couldn’t manage to say anything. In spite of his anger, grief clawed its way closer and closer to the surface and tears stung his eyes once more. 

 He hugged Draxum just before the first sob escaped his throat. He squeezed the yōkai as tight as he could, to the point he could hear the alchemist gasp. 

 “Casey?” Draxum practically squeaked. “Easy now.”

 He loosened his grip but didn’t let go.

 “At least let me get the door.” 

 Fine. He could do that. He released his grip and wiped his eyes as he stepped further inside. Regaining control of his breathing was a lost cause, but at least the chaos settled down a little when Draxum pulled him back into the hug. 

 His father figure didn’t ask any questions, in fact he didn’t say anything at all. He only gave the occasional pat on the shoulder or trailed his claws through Casey’s hair. 

 He’d gotten pretty good at this comforting thing over the months. 

 But eventually the tears washed out enough of the grief that his anger simmered back to the surface. He pushed himself away from Draxum before he tried to grab a fist full of the yōkai’s fur. 

 “Can we go train or something?” His voice kept cracking from all the tears. “I feel like I’m five seconds away from breaking the floor in half.” 

 Draxum hummed and tapped his chin. “I don’t know if training will be an option at this moment, but if you need to blow steam, I may have an idea.” 

 He wiped the still remaining tears off his face. “What’s that?”

 Casey stood at the ready as Draxum tossed another small rock toward him. He swung his hockey stick, slamming the wide end of it into the stone and sending it flying toward the large, extravagant house. This one crashed right through one of the ornate windows.

 “You’re sure this is okay?” Casey squinted at his father figure.

 “It’s more than okay.” Draxum insisted and tossed another stone.

 Casey had no idea whose house this was, or why they were even here. Draxum just said breaking some windows with rocks would be a good way to loosen up his anger and… yeah it kind of was. 

 He kept pretending that every stone he sent flying would smack one of his family members in the face. 

 But after so many strikes, the images just made him feel guilty, so he let the sound of shattering glass satisfy him instead. 

 “So,” Draxum tossed another rock in the air. “Are you feeling well enough to tell me what happened?”

 Casey hit it. This one sailed into the fountain statue in the center of the garden and its head came clean off. 

 “Well, I already mentioned Donnie got the results from that DNA test.”

 The alchemist nodded. “Indeed, were the results… not what you wanted?”

 “I don’t know.” He admitted. “I just think it’s stupid that I found out this way when my family could have told me the entire time.”

 Draxum raised a brow. “They knew?”

 “Of course they did, considering my dad is Raph.” 

 The alchemist’s eyes went wide. He scrambled to his feet so fast his hooves slid against all the stones at his feet that rested along the brick pathway. “What? Are you serious?”

 Casey narrowed his eyes to show it. “Yeah.”

 Draxum kept staring in shock, but a few moments later his expression relaxed. “Actually, that makes a lot of sense. Given your skin conditions and allergies, I mean.” 

 “Maybe it does, but it doesn’t make sense why they lied about it.” Without Draxum tossing stones, Casey knelt down to grab one of his own. He tossed it up and smacked it. Sadly this one missed, just hitting the wall of the house. At least it seemed to chip the paint. “Didn’t tell me when they were alive. Didn’t tell me after I came to this time. Maybe it wasn’t their intention, but it really feels like all of them, including Raph, just wanted to erase the fact we were related.” 

 Draxum hummed, almost sounding sympathetic. “Did they actually tell you why?”

 “I only spoke to Raph.” He hit another stone. This time hard enough that the sharp grey pebble wedged itself into the exterior of the building. “He said he and mom didn’t want me worrying about a dead legacy during a war. Then they didn’t know how to bring it up after it was all over. And that’s so… Stupid!”

 He hit one more for good measure. This one nailed a window on the second story, shattering the entire thing and only leaving the fancy stain glass pattern at the top. 

 Finally he lowered his hockey stick, though he didn’t drop it. “The worst part about it is, how can I even be mad at them for that? When I did the same thing to Cassandra by not telling her who I was?” 

 Draxum crossed his arms. “I doubt you can call it the same scenario. Yes it was unwise to keep that from her, but her knowing that you’re her son from the future is far more inconsequential than you not knowing who your parents are.”

 “I still know how frustrating it feels finding out you’ve been left in the dark.”

 “But you are not the one at fault. Your parents should have told you, or any one of your uncles, or grandparents.”

 Casey kicked one of the stones that ended up on the pathway back into the line of bushes where they belonged. What was with this type of gardening anyway? Was it safe to put all these rocks over the bush roots? 

 Not the time to think about that. 

 “Maybe, but I don’t know what to do at this point. I’m sure they’re sorry. Great. But I’m still so pissed off.” 

 “Well, blowing steam by smashing up the superintendent’s house is a start.”

 “The what?” 

 Both of them paused when they heard police sirens. Beat by beat they got louder and Casey finally saw the flashing lights coming in from the end of the street.

 “Whoops.” Draxum drew a few symbols on his palm with his nail before drawing a circle in the air. “We better go.”

 “Huh?” Casey shouted as the portal appeared. “I thought you said it was okay for us to do this?”

 “It is okay, she deserves to have her property smashed after the ridiculous menu changes she decided on.” Draxum snapped. “But that doesn’t mean it’s legal. A neighbor must have caught us.”

 Casey groaned and went through the portal. 

 Draxum followed, both of them reappearing in their shared apartment. The portal vanished and Casey flipped on a light to make up for the lack of glow. 

 He tossed his weapon on the sofa with a sigh. “Cannot believe you’re using my rage to get revenge on the school board.”

 “Hey, no leaving weapons on the seats.”

 “Oh whatever!” He still snatched it back up. “The more parent-like you get the more insufferable you are!” 

 “And the more frustrated you get, the more you act like your mother.”

 Casey flinched at that. He really never considered himself to be much like his mom. Despite clinging so close to the woman in his childhood, she died when he was seven. After that he followed at Leonardo’s heels and did everything he could to be like him. 

 Only now did he begin to wonder how much of it even stuck. 

 He didn’t respond. He stomped off to his room and shut the door. His weapon clattered against the wall when he threw it, then it lost its balance and landed on the floor instead. Casey didn’t bother to fix it.

 He flopped on the bed, knowing he should change his clothes but couldn’t be bothered to do that either. He reached into his jacket pocket to tug his phone out, not having checked it this entire time.

 A few texts from Donnie, checking in, as well as one from Reece inviting him over to his apartment. Apparently his boyfriend wanted to talk about something, when Casey had the free time.

 >Honestly can I come over now? You will not believe the day I am having

 He read Donnie’s more closely as he waited for a reply. The turtle mostly wanted to make sure Casey didn’t run off to do anything stupid, so he told Donnie that he was back at his apartment and he’d be back to the lair for his stuff later. Probably tomorrow morning when he took Comet to school again. 

 A reply came from Reece.

 >Yeah sure! My sister is here is that okay tho

 >You know I don’t mind just have to talk quietly
 >Also no smooching rip :( 

 Reece replied with a few laughing emojis. 

 Well, they probably could smooch, but anytime Lauri caught them she’d loudly exclaim how gross it was. Honestly, she was eight, shouldn’t she be over that? Or maybe she just hated it because it was her sibling doing it.

 Casey couldn’t really relate to that. He never had a sibling. 

 If his dad lived longer, would he have remained an only child? 

 He slammed his head into the mattress—which truthfully did nothing but squish his nose. No, he wouldn’t think about that. Not right now. 

 He got up and left his weapon on the floor, but did grab his grappling gauntlet. It’d be good for getting to his destination faster and also a quick get away if it was needed.

 Casey left his room and went for the front door. “I’m going to Reece’s.” 

 “What?” Draxum asked from the kitchen. “Right when I started making rabbit stew?” 

 That did make him pause. In spite of everything he tried after coming to the present, from pizza, to ice cream, to pie, to cake and whatever was going on with French cooking, nothing ever gave him comfort quite like rabbit stew. He had it while on a camping trip near Todd’s place. Something about it reminded him so much of the soups his Uncle Mikey would make. 

 He confessed to Draxum how much he loved it once. Since then the alchemist always kept some rabbit in the freezer for bad days.

 “Thanks.” Casey managed to smile at him. “I’ll definitely want that later, if you don’t mind saving it for me?”

 “Fine,” Draxum sighed. “But that means saving room for it. No eating fifteen bags of chips at your boyfriend’s place.”

 He finally laughed. “Don’t worry, pretty sure Reece would have a fit if I did that again.” 

 The alchemist waved him toward the door. “Go, and be careful.” 

 “Yeah, see you later, Dad.” 

 Casey left the apartment and shut the door. 

 “Listen, I agree this all sucks.” Reece said as the pair sat on his bed and kept mindlessly solving word puzzles on his phone. “But I need to go over this again. You’re half turtle?” 

 “More like a quarter, I guess?” Casey shrugged and dragged his finger over the screen to solve another word. “I mean, Raph is a turtle mutated with human DNA so…” 

 “So is that where you got your good looks from?”

 Casey initially laughed at the joke, and then paused for a second as he fought to remember what Lou Jitsu’s face looked like. “Uh… maybe? Actually?” 

 “What? Seriously?”

 “Hang on.” Casey tapped out of the game and brought up the browser, typing Lou Jitsu’s name in. He scrolled for a clear photo of his face and then pointed at it.

 Reece stared at it for a second. “Isn’t that like, a famous movie star?”

 “Yeah?”

 “You’re related to a famous star?” He shouted this time. 

 Casey snorted. “Yeah, yeah, that’s my grandfather or something.” Huh, Lou Jitsu and/or Splinter was actually his grandfather. That was strange to think about. 

 Reece hummed and held up his phone next to Casey’s face. “Actually looking at it, I can see it.”

 “Yeah?”

 “Your nose and ears for sure. Maybe the shape of your face? Not your eyes though.” 

 No, probably not. April—as in his aunt—would often tell him that he got his eyes from his mom. 

 Reece kept smiling. “Imagine if we shaved your face and styled your hair. Got you some yellow glasses. I bet you’d look just like him.”

 Casey snorted and shoved the phone to the side. “Sorry, but you lost me at ‘shave your face.’ Do you know what a struggle it is just for me to grow this much?” He pointed at the messy stubble on his chin. Uneven hairs in various patches that you could never call a beard, but Casey kept them all the same. Even getting back on hormone therapy—thanks to a certain alchemist—it just didn’t want to grow properly out of his chin. 

 Maybe his reptile DNA had something to do with that. 

 “Yeah, I might be devastated if you shaved anyway.” Reece trailed a finger under Casey’s chin. “Always jealous of how you make this look good.”

 He rolled his eyes again. “I don’t think I do, you just have a weird taste for scruffy boys, as Annie says.” 

 “Man, you get a crush on one scruffy anime guy and suddenly…”

 Casey laughed, but nudged Reece’s hand away all the same. Even if Lauri wasn’t here, he wasn’t really in the mood. “Right, didn’t you invite me over to talk about something?”

 “Oh, yeah.” Reece scooted along the bed so he could lean his back against the pillows. “We got so caught up in your dad revelation I almost forgot. I got an acceptance letter, for college.” 

 Casey just flopped down on the sheets as he smiled. “Really? That’s awesome, right?” 

 “Yeah but, it means I’m gonna have to move come summer time.”

 Ah, right. Reece did mention it was a few states away. “Not a huge deal. We could text, or travel sometimes.” He paused for a second. “Unless this is the start of you wanting to break things off.”

 “No!” Reece snapped. “No way. Ugh, especially right after hearing about your family drama… problems… whatever you want to call it. That’d be such a jerk move.” He shook his head. “No, I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come with me.” 

 Casey just blinked at him. “To… college? I don’t think they’d let me, even if Donnie hacked me into the system.”

 Reece laughed and gently kicked him in the arm. “No, just move out with me. With the way I plan to do housing, we could just be roommates. You said you wanted to travel at some point, didn’t you?”

 He did. A wishful thought for the longest time, to see the world as it was meant to exist rather than a desolate wasteland. But he had to cement himself in this time first and things became so routine that he almost forgot about it. 

 “I don’t know.” He mumbled. “I might have to think about that one.”

 “You have a few months to, don’t worry about it.” Reece let out a long sigh. “How about for the night we stop thinking and do something fun?” 

 Casey smiled. “Well your sister is hogging the TV so I think a movie or a video game is off the table.”

 “Psh, we don’t need that.” Reece leaned over to his nightstand and pulled a book off of it. “Want to take turn reading chapters?” 

 He smiled wider and pushed himself up so he could scoot next to his boyfriend. “Sure.” 

 The next evening, Casey got invited to do some vigilante work with Cassandra. Not that it wasn’t commonplace, but as she reported, April and Sunita had a date, Raph promised to play dress up with Comet, and she heard he needed to blow some steam.

 He did, so he agreed, even knowing being around her would inevitably be awkward. 

 Because oh yeah, this was a past version of his mom. His mom who apparently had enough of a thing with Raph in the future to have a kid. That thought didn’t even cross his mind until he saw her again, though he pretended everything was, mostly, normal.

 Donnie must have told the others Casey was upset, though he probably didn’t say why, but Cassandra didn’t ask any questions. At least not at first. She was far too focused on actually tracking down some criminals to stop. 

 Casey did his best to focus on the tasks at hand, but any moment there was down time he’d think about it all over again. Maybe it wasn’t that strange. He saw how his mom and Raph interacted in the afterlife. Squabbling like friends but practically attached at the hip. If Cassandra wasn’t leaning against the snapper she was sitting on his back. 

 Could that still happen in this timeline? Without the pressure of war?

 Only time would tell that, because he refused to influence it in the slightest. 

 After taking down three muggers, a creep who kept following a girl home, and then even a gang of humans who were attacking a mutant, the pair decided to call it for the night. They grabbed a pair of large ICEEs from a gas station and walked toward the lair.

 “Not even sure I should go with.” Casey mumbled between slurps. “Maybe I should just go home.” 

 “What even happened?” She eyed him up and down. “Donatello didn’t mention what upset you in the slightest.”

 “Surprised you’re asking now.”

 “I didn’t care to have it turn into an argument just before crime fighting.” She stuck her nose in the air. 

 Fair enough. “Well, I hope you won’t be offended if I don’t share the results of my search for my other birth parent.” 

 Cassandra’s eyes went wide as she stared at him. “Huh? I thought you said that didn’t matter.”

 He sighed. “It didn’t until I started getting frustrated with all this weird stuff going on with my body. And I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. Just find the guy and get my genetic history and move on but…”

 Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t like the results.”

 “It’s complicated.” Casey bit on his straw. “And I kind of don’t want to explain it cause…”

 “Ah, you don’t want me knowing and having that cause a drastic influence over my decisions.” Cassandra nodded, still not even looking bothered by this conversation. “I’ll make the assumption that it wasn’t the result of a fling then.”

 “Uh… probably not.”

 “That’s just weirder.” She curled her lip. “Cannot imagine me having a long term relationship with a guy.”

 What? That’s what was bothering her? Casey shrugged. “To be fair he’s not… entirely a guy?”

 “What does that mean?”

 “Honestly, I don’t know, but I’ve heard people use both he and she pronouns for this guy so…” 

 “Ugh, thank goodness.” Cassandra tilted her head back for a second. “I feared that somehow a kraang war made me quit being a lesbian.” 

 Casey smiled. “You have the weirdest priorities.”

 She punched him in the arm. “Well what if you suddenly started liking girls? Wouldn’t that be strange?” 

 “I guess?” He momentarily put his cold drink on his arm to numb some of the pain. “I know I generally like guys, but I’m pretty sure if I did fall in love with a girl for some reason I wouldn’t have a crisis.” 

 “Lies.”

 “Oh, whatever.” 

 The conversation distracted him, made him forget about going home until they were walking down the steps and into the lair. And yeah he should probably visit anyway. Try and get over the awkwardness. His visits to drop off and pick up Comet were far too brief. No doubt the little mushroom knew what was going on in his head, but so far they hadn’t commented. 

 “Heeey, we got Caseys in the house.” Mikey shouted the moment he spotted them traversing the hall. “How was crime fighting?”

 “Typical, but we won.” Cassandra puffed out her chest. “Who is up for some games?”

 “Oh, I am.” Mikey pumped his fists. “Donnie and Leo should be. Dunno about Raph though, he’s trying to put Comet to bed.” 

 Casey smiled. “How did the dress up games go?” 

 The box turtle squeaked and got out his phone as they all walked toward the game room. “You should see these. Comet got a little dress to look like Princess Peach so we made a whole thing to get Raph to look like Bowser. It’s so cute.” 

 Casey and Cassandra both looked at the screen as Mikey held it out to them. Raph’s costume being homemade was fairly obvious, but still well put together between the horns, the white spikes, and even the bright red hair on his head. There were a bunch of photos of Comet just sitting on him or pretending to be chased. Mikey even edited one to have fire coming out of Raph’s mouth. 

 Casey smiled and finished off his ICEE, but the longer he stared the more it felt like the cold slushy got stuck in his chest. He tried to clear his throat, wondering if he swallowed wrong, but no. 

 Something didn’t feel right. 

 “Anyway, let me tell the others you’re here for some games.” Mikey took his phone back and began to text. 

 “Until then, Junior!” Cassandra tossed her empty cup in the trash. “Air hockey, let’s go.” 

 He chose to ignore the weird sensation in his chest and followed her lead. “Try not to hit it so hard it makes another dent in the ceiling this time.” He glanced up, still seeing a number of lines where the puck had smashed through the soft material up above. Donnie obviously hadn’t had the time to fix them. 

 The distraction of setting up the table helped, but before they could actually start a round, Donnie arrived.

 “Ah, CJ.” The purple turtle spoke from behind. “You are here.”

 He looked back at him. “Yeah?” 

 Donnie’s stare fixed on him, his arms out as if he were considering running away. “Well, I wasn’t sure how you were doing after… last time.” 

 Oh.

 “Let’s uh, not talk about it.” He forced a smile. “Let’s just do a game night.” 

 Donnie’s arms and shoulders relaxed. “Right, of course. Should be easy enough. If it interests anyone, I stumbled across an entire set of beyblades during my junkyard trip the other day.” 

 Casey tilted his head. “What are those?”

 “He doesn’t know beyblades.” Mikey gasped. “We have to play with those today, Dee. I bet he and Casey will love them!” 

 “Are they dangerous?” Cassandra asked, her finger tapping against the table that now gently blew air. 

 Mikey nodded, grinning ear to ear.

 “Excellent. After Junior and I go head to head with air hockey, we shall fight with beyblades as well.”

 “In the meantime,” Donnie said. “While they do that. I’ll set up the arena and we can go a few rounds, Miguel. Where’s Leo, anyway?” 

 “Dunno.” Mikey looked at his phone. “I sent him the text but—” 

 Raph’s voice boomed down the hall outside. “Leo!”

 Everyone rushed to the door to see what was going on. 

 Nothing to see at first, but a moment later Comet rushed past, seemingly floating in the air as they did. The spots on their cap glowed a bright green and they waved their arms. A moment later, Raph went past as well, chasing. 

 “Leo, put them down.” Raph kept shouting. “It’s their bedtime.” 

 “Fun never sleeps!” Leo spoke from… somewhere. It took Casey a second to realize he must be using his invisibility cape and carrying Comet on his shoulders. 

 Comet clapped their hands together, possibly saying something, but it wasn’t projected in Casey’s direction. 

 Raphael growled and lit up red. His ninpo wrapped around his body before it slipped into the ground. It jetted past where Comet floated and suddenly rose up out of the ground in the same shape as Raph. 

 Leo shouted, probably skidding to a stop, but rather than strike him the clone simply picked up Comet and ran back to Raph. 

 “Aw man,” Leo reappeared, his cape wrapped around his neck. “Looks like the boring dad won’t let us have any fun, Comet.” 

 Comet clearly pouted in Raph’s arms, their colors shifting to red, but they didn’t protest outside of that. 

 “They need sleep, Leo, it’s late enough as it is.” Raph lifted the little mushroom so they were eye to eye. “Come on, we can read a few books before bed. Does that sound fair?” 

 The red colors vanished in an instant and they put their hands on his face. Raph chuckled and tucked them back into the crook of his elbow. 
 
 Casey’s chest felt cold again, to the point that it ached. 

 That’s how his Raph used to hold him, wasn’t it. Because that’s how his Raph held him now whenever he got the chance. 

 His brain wouldn’t stop drawing comparisons. To how the snapper laughed, or smiled, or gazed at the child in his arm. 

 Is that how his father used to—

 Casey shoved the thought away. He couldn’t toy with these ideas. 

 But what had it been like—

 It didn’t matter because those days were past. So short lived he didn’t even have a shred of memory of them. 

 But that’s not true. He remembered the feeling of some of them so maybe—

 No. He wouldn’t stand here and miss something that he never had. That he probably never would on account of his family never bothering to—

 “Casey?” 

 The sound of Raph’s voice almost made him scream. He briefly wondered if he got pulled into the world of spirits against his will.

 But he just saw everyone in the present staring at him, including Raph. Comet in particular was pointing at him, colors turning yellow and blue. 

 “Sorry,” he sputtered out. He couldn’t stay here. Not right at this moment. “I’ll be right back.” 

 He sprinted to the exit without another word, hoping no one came after him. He didn’t go very far, stopping just at the street level and collapsing near the entrance as anger and grief kept twisting through his chest. 

 Damn all of this. Maybe he never should have asked Donnie to look this up. 

 But if he hadn’t, would his family have ever told him the truth? 

 “Casey?” 

 He looked up at Donnie from where he sat on the ground. “What?” 

 The softshell glanced to the side and tugged at the collar of his jacket. “Apologies, I am famous for not being the best at consoling people when they are upset but… given that I am the only one who knows why you are upset I figured…” 

 Casey sighed. He shoved his palm against the concrete, letting the rough texture go through his gloves and onto his already irritated skin. No doubt more of it would be blistering and peeling later. “I’ll be fine. I just… need a minute.” 

 Donnie kept fiddling with his jacket. “I imagined the information would be a shock to you, but I didn’t think it would be that upsetting. I mean… is it such a bad thing?” His smile couldn’t possibly look more forced. “It means you’re related to us in more ways than one. That’s good… right?” 

 Ah, Donnie, the smartest one around and yet sometimes so unaware. Though Casey knew why, so he wouldn’t get upset about it. 

 He forced himself to his feet. “It’s not the whole being related thing that bothers me. It’s the fact that no one from my time ever told me.” 

 Donnie’s smile fell. “I see. Yes, I imagine that would be fairly upsetting.” 

 Casey stared at him, at how different he still looked compared to his uncle in spite of getting taller. None of the worry lines on his forehead or around his eyes. None of the extra markings. And now an entire magical scar along his arm and his face that his uncle definitely never acquired. 

 “Why do you think you never did?” Casey posed the question. “Your future self, I mean.” 

 Donnie didn’t answer right away. With his eyes wide and expression blank, he searched Casey’s face for a while, then pressed his lips together, then glanced down at the ground. 

 “I can’t answer that.”

 “Huh?” Casey glared. “What do you mean you can’t—”

 “I mean I can’t.” Donnie raised his voice in defense. “Casey, the Donatello you know… Maybe there are similarities but he grew up in such a different time. He never made the dumb decision to compete in the Battle Nexus. He never met Holly Blue.” He held up a hand to stare at the golden marks on his fingers. “He never tampered with his brother’s magic, causing it to burn him. The me of this time knows how foolish keeping secrets can be. I have had to learn that lesson over and over again.” 

 Donatello sighed before he continued. “And I imagine it is one I will keep learning from time to time. Because keeping things from someone always sounds like a good idea at the time, until it isn’t.” He shook his head. “Mikey would probably do a much better job of explaining this.” 

 Casey flexed his fingers to avoid clenching his fists. He knew Donnie was right, and in some ways that just frustrated him more. 

 “I didn’t want you to hate me.”

 His reasons for keeping the truth from Cassandra had been foolish, maybe even selfish. It certainly hadn’t been fair, for everyone to know where he came from except for her. But at the time he imagined the conversation going a hundred different ways, and every time it ended with her being disgusted with him. And the idea of his mother’s face looking at him with disdain… he couldn’t stand it.

 And then it happened anyway. Because he didn’t tell her. 

 And now it was happening all over again, because his father didn’t tell him. 

 Just how did he feel, having Casey stare at him with enough rage to set a forest ablaze? 

 Casey actually shouted from frustration and put his hands over his face. “I hate this!” 

 “Ah, I’m sorry?” Donnie offered. “Let me try to rephrase—”

 “No, not you.” He waved a hand. “I’m just thinking to myself, sorry. And sorry for… asking you that. I know I shouldn’t be comparing you to my uncle anymore.” 

 Donatello shrugged. “It’s a fair question. But if you want answers, you will have to ask them.”

 “I know.” Casey glared at the concrete. “But the idea of looking at any of them right now makes me feel sick.” 

 “Ouch.” Donnie grit his teeth. “Hoping that doesn’t apply to us.”

 That got him to snort and even let out a short laugh. “Nah, not really. Seeing Raph act like a dad just…” 

 Donnie nodded. “I see, again. But he is tucking Comet into bed, if you would still like to try some beyblades.” 

 Casey let out a long sigh and stretched his arms. “Yeah, sure.” 

 The pair of them headed back down the steps.

 Donnie said, “If you do come around to asking them some questions, can you please ask one of them how you even happened.”

 “What?” Casey tried not to laugh. “What does that mean?”

 “Well based on what I know about my brother, it’s just physically impossible.” 

 “You think I want the details of how my mom got pregnant?”

 “It’s for science!”

 Casey rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever.”

 When Casey got home, the first thing he did was take off his boots and then flop right onto the sofa.

 Draxum sat there, reading, and hardly even looked up from the text. “Did the crime fighting not go well?”

 “Went fine.” Casey mumbled into the cushions. “It’s other stuff.” 

 “I see.” The alchemist didn’t ask him to elaborate, and after a few beats Casey felt claws running through his hair. 

 Did it frustrate Raphael to see someone else taking up the fatherhood role? For the second time no less. 

 Casey wanted answers to all these questions, but he still didn’t know if he had it in him. Another visit to the spirit world may have him blowing up all over again. 

 But he already felt like he was going to explode.

 Casey sighed and pushed himself up. “I’m going to my room for a bit.”

 Draxum still didn’t look up. “Did you have dinner?”

 “Yeah.” 

 The alchemist nodded and said nothing else. 

 Casey retreated to his room, now flopping onto his bed instead. He rolled onto his back, now staring at the single dull light on the ceiling. Even with its low power it began to burn into his eyes, so he closed them and let his mind reach out. 

 He didn’t hear anything, but the familiar sensation of his mattress vanished. Casey opened his eyes back up, surprised this time not to find a black void, but rather a different room. It took him far too long to even recognize the dark walls that were lined with shelves, keeping weapons up in high places. 

 This was his room back in their original base, wasn’t it? Or rather his mom’s room that he would also sleep in due to limited space. He always missed it when they finally had to abandon it and move on. The massive bed that he’d spend hours rolling and jumping on was replaced with something so much smaller. 

 He looked to where it should be and saw Raphael sitting in front of it. 

 Why hadn’t he said anything? Casey stood, but he didn’t approach. The snapper watched, clearly still upset, but he didn’t open his mouth. 

 Casey clenched his fists, trying to reign back his frustration. “What? Not going to talk?”

 Raphael gave a small smile. “What do you want me to say?”

 “I don’t know.” Casey shrugged. “Lecture me for being a hypocrite?”

 “You’re not—”

 “Yeah, I am.” He argued. “I’m still so mad at you and I’m even angrier at the fact that I shouldn’t be, because I pulled the exact same thing. I know exactly how it feels.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You don’t want to say anything because you don’t want them to hate you for it.” 

 He looked at his father, hoping for a response, but there still wasn’t one.

 Casey swallowed the lump in his throat. “Then it happens anyway.” His voice cracked. “And it sucks. And it must suck even more for you because you’ve been stuck here for almost my entire life. You finally get to see me again and then—” Sound quit leaving his mouth. He swallowed again to try and get it back and kept eyeing Raphael to gauge his reaction. 

 The turtle didn’t look upset, or angry, just calm as he opened his arms. 

 Something in Casey’s chest cracked like a log on an open flame, but in spite of his ever present frustration he found himself sprinting toward his father as fast as he could.

 He crashed into the snapper when he hugged him, but Raph, ever the rock, didn’t budge. 

 “You can be as mad at me as you want.” Raph returned the hug with twice as much force. “I still love you more than anything in the world.” 

 A sob escaped, but Casey refused to let it silence him. “So why didn’t you tell me? We could have spent all that time catching up.” 

 “Yeah, I’m sorry.” Raphael tugged Casey to the side so he was once again leaning against his arm, resting in the crook of his elbow. “Even if I wasn’t there, I have been watching you for your whole life, you know?” The snapper kept smiling, in spite of the obvious tears in his eyes. “So I sometimes forget that, to you, I’m practically a stranger.” 

 Casey sniffed and crossed his arms. “Yeah, so I’m still mad at you.” 

 Raph chuckled. “I know.”

 “So how did you know I’d accept a hug?”

 The snapper smiled wider. “Because, your mom is the exact same way when she’s angry with me. Give her a bit of time and then offer a hug and she always takes it. Likes to sit there and glare at me the entire time, but she always takes it.” 

 Casey crossed his arms tighter. 

 Now Raphael burst out laughing, the sound rumbling out of his chest. “You know, you make the same faces she does too?” 

 “Ugh, I get it.” Casey shoved his hand against his father’s jaw to shove his head away. “Quit teasing me.” 

 “Nah, now that you know I’m your dad, that’s only going to get worse.” 

 “You’re worse than Sensei was.”

 “And where do you think we got it from, huh?” Raphael shook him a bit. “We both had the same dad.” 

 Huh, Casey never put much thought into that. How Splinter’s teasing of the turtles was so reflective in his uncles. 

 Raph continued, “Oh, and if the Donnie of the present wants to know where you came from, you’re better off asking your Uncle Donnie.” 

 “So, not a typical baby situation?”

 “Nah.”

 “So why even bother?” Casey sunk down. “If you’re in the middle of a war.”

 Raphael’s smile softened and he leaned over to press their foreheads together. “Sorry Case, but I don’t think you’d understand even if I explained it to you.” 

 He wanted to snap and protest at that. As if he were a little child anymore. But maybe it was less of an age thing and more of a wanting to be a parent thing.

 So he brushed it aside and reached up to put his hands on his father’s face, holding him there. He shut his eyes, just focusing on the sensation of being held. 

 He still needed to lecture his mom—no doubt that would go great—and his aunt and uncles, but right now he didn’t want to move. 

 A deep rumble came from Raph’s chest. Not a growl, more like a gravelly hum that vibrated through them both. Truthfully, it just made Casey want to sleep.

 He might have even started to doze off, but the loud clink of ceramic made him open his eyes.

 He found himself back in his room, staring at the dull light, but he swiftly moved his gaze to the left where the sound came from.

 He saw Draxum leaning over next to his nightstand, a mug and a coaster still in hand as he tried to set them on what little empty space remained.

 “I didn’t mean to wake you up.” He finally put the mug down. Steam drifted out of it. 

 “It’s fine,” Casey sniffed and realized how wet his cheeks were. He wiped them off with his glove covered palm. “Technically wasn’t asleep.”

 “I didn’t interrupt something, did I?”

 Yeah, kind of, but Casey wouldn’t make him feel bad about it. “I can go back to talk to them whenever. They aren’t going anywhere.” 

 “Still, I will leave you to it.” Draxum straightened up and turned toward the door.

 “Actually,” Casey called out without thinking. He didn’t know why. He should just go back to talking to Raph, but even with all his lingering questions he didn’t know what to say. 

 Draxum stared at him, eyebrow raised.

 “Uh… could you tie my hair up?” What a lame thing to ask. 

 The alchemist still nodded and held out a hand. Casey pulled one of his spare ribbons from his pocket and scooted over so Draxum could sit behind him. While the yōkai gently tugged on his hair and straightened the strands out, Casey picked up the mug of tea, blowing on it a few times. 

 “Are the conversations with your family still not going well?” Draxum asked.

 “It’s getting better.” Casey took a careful sip. “But that’s still only one thing off my mind.” 

 “Oh?”

 Right, Casey had yet to mention it. “Yeah uh, Reece asked if I’d move with him, when he goes to college.” 

 Draxum’s hands stilled, but only for a moment. “Will you?”

 “I don’t know.” Casey sighed. “I often dreamed about traveling but at the same time… You know, after we lost our first main base we ended up constantly on the move to avoid the kraang. They kept finding our hideouts and our back ups. During the last couple of years we didn’t even have one anymore. We just kept hiding in cave systems.”

 He rubbed the back of his now bare neck since Draxum wrapped all his hair into a neat braid. “My point being, I haven’t really had a home again until recently. I don’t know if I want to leave it.” 

 Draxum tied the ribbon into his hair. “I think you should go.”

 “Uh-huh.” Casey turned his head the moment it was safe to do so. “Are you saying that because you just want the apartment to yourself again?”

 The alchemist crossed his arms and glared. “No, I just imagine it would be a good experience for you. Besides,” he stood. “If we work harder on your mystics training you should be able to make your own portals before you leave. You could return anytime you wanted.”

 That was true. Casey had seen Draxum draw those portals dozens of times. Some people in the resistance knew how to use them too, including his mom. He didn’t really know the exact reason he asked to learn all of this. Maybe because he heard the alchemist complain enough times about the fact that none of the turtles had any interest in the alchemy or language side of things. Maybe because he knew Draxum’s mystic power got weaker and weaker over time. And if the turtles didn’t want to take up that knowledge to pass it on then, well, why shouldn’t he? 

 Maybe he just wanted to take up his latest father figure’s legacy because he seemed to fail that every time in the past. 

 Well, that probably wasn’t true, but it felt that way at times. 

 Casey didn’t verbalize any of this. He just took another sip of tea and finally replied. “Yeah, well, if we’re going to beef up my mystic abilities you’re going to have to quit slacking on training me.” 

 Draxum’s eyebrow twitched. “You’re the one who insists on spending so many nights out with his boyfriend.” 

 “Then ground me, old man.”

 “You’re lucky you’re holding tea or I’d shove you off the bed.” 

 Casey snorted, hiding his smile behind his mug. “Yeah yeah, I’ll make more time for training, okay?” 

 “Good, now get some sleep.” Draxum moved to the doorway. “It’s almost two in the morning.” 

 “Sure.” Casey put the mug down. “Goodnight, Dad.” 

 “Goodnight.” Draxum shut the door. 

 The next morning, Casey went to the lair to get Comet. Exhaustion hung on his shoulders, but it didn’t feel bad. He just yawned a lot more than he’d like. 

 When he arrived he was surprised not to see Comet waiting for him. So he went searching, finding Raph in the kitchen. The snapper scrambled to put a lunch box together.

 “Oh, hey CJ.” He flashed a smile. “Sorry, Comet is almost ready. Late morning for us.” 

 Casey smiled. “Did you sleep in on accident.”

 He laughed. “Yeah, but I don’t think Comet is all that awake either. They even called me ‘Mom’ this morning.” 

 Did they now? That was interesting, but Casey didn’t comment. 

 In fact he reached out with his mind instead, trying to send his father a message. Hey, Dad? 

 He could practically feel the snapper at his back. “You actually calling me Dad makes me want to cry, you know that?”

 Casey smiled. Do you want me to call you Mom too?

 His father laughed. “Maybe when your other mom isn’t around. Otherwise that’s just going to get confusing.” 

 Yeah, maybe. 

 Comet’s voice suddenly sprang into his head. “Two moms.”

 Casey jumped when he turned to see the little mushroom already in their human disguise. They stared at him with their blue eyes, obviously seeing right through him. 

 He squinted at them. Don’t tell.

 They puffed out their cheeks. “Know that.” Then they skipped over to Raph, holding out their hands. 

 The snapper knelt down. “Yeah, I got it. Here.” He held out the lunchbox and then kissed them on the head. “Be good, okay?” 

 Casey smiled. That bitter feeling from last night no longer sat in his chest. 

 Comet ran back to his side and the pair of them gave one more goodbye before leaving the lair. But just as they got to the street, the kid tugged on his pant leg.

 He looked down at them. “What’s up?”

 Comet pointed between them. “Siblings now?”

 The question caught him so off guard he stopped walking. “Uh… maybe? Technically? We sort of have different dads, though.” He studied their face. “Do you want to be?” 

 Their eyes practically sparkled. “Always wanted sibling.”

 Casey laughed and reached down to pick them up and plop them on his shoulders. “You know what? Me too.”