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“Hey guys,” Raph spoke as he entered the main room of the lair. Donnie looked up from his screen, Leo and Mikey stopped skating on the large ramp they all built. Curious as to why their eldest brother was asking for their attention. Raph was looking at his phone rereading the text April sent him “April’s asking if we can cover her shift today,” he explains.
“Us?” Leo asks with a raised hypothetical eyebrow. Mikey looked excited enough to burst at the idea, Donnie had his main attention focused back to his tablet, doing who knows what on it. Raph nods.
“She said she’s sick,” Raph explains with a small gesture “and also not to mention but we kind of owe her for-”
“For her Alberto pizza job, when we first met at the “paper” aka salami store, and-” Mikey was cut off by Leo putting a finger over his lips. Raph and Donnie sharing a look, Mikey could list jobs that April lost, especially because of them, forever.
“We get it Angelo,” he said light heartedly, rolling his eyes as Mikey shrugged. It came bound to their whole… situation.
“Okay, I’ll tell her we’ll do it,” Raph says, starting to text their sister back. Donnie perked up at those words.
“All of us?” He asked. Mikey and Leo shooting him a look, he raised his arms in defense “I’m just saying all four of us for one person’s shift is a lot,” he says.
“You just don’t want to deal with customers,” Mikey points out, Leo nodding in agreement behind him.
“These statements can co-exist, and they do,” Donnie retorts, earning an eye roll from his brothers.
“Alright, she sent me the address- and told me not to get her fired- let’s go!” Raph says, the brothers heading out the sewers, following Raph’s GPS to a fun little coffee shop.
Beautiful black tile decorated the bottom half of the coffee shop, windows making it clear that the inside and the floor followed the same theme. A nice pastel yellow filled the other half of the walls. Nice dark oak chairs and tables decorated both the inside and out with seating. Quaint, and the theme matched with the name.
“Honey Bee’s, sounds more like they’re selling honey than coffee,” Donnie comments, his brothers ignoring his comment as they enter the empty cafe. Looking around expecting to see… well, anyone .
“Hey April,” An older male voice called out from the little office room. The door closed, it was surprising he heard anything through it. The boys look to each other in confusion “I hope it’s fine that you’re the only out there today, everyone else called out and I couldn’t seem to get anyone in! I’d help but…” a pause as if the owner of the voice was looking for an excuse “I’ve got so much paperwork because of all of those call outs, yeah, that’s what I’ve got, so you’re on your own, sorry!”
“ Wow ,” Leo whispers in annoyed astonishment. The boys all silently glaring at the office before deciding their workload.
Leo and Mikey took the actual barista-ing, the making of the drinks. Leo could understand the instructions extremely well and Mikey was fast enough of a learner he just watched Leo for anything he didn’t know. Raph was a cashier and so was Leo when Mikey could handle it on his own. The three made a unanimous decision to make Donnie a bus boy.
“But why!?” Donnie whined when the decision was made.
“Every job April has lost somehow involved you messing with tech,” Leo says with nods of agreement from the other two. Outvoted, Donnie accepted this temporary banishment of his inventions. But next time they won’t be so lucky.
Their objective: Don't Mess Up & Get April Fired
Seemed simple enough for the most part. However, Leo started an order with an old lady, ordering three black coffees. She couldn’t seem to stop staring at him, gears in her mind very clearly turning. “Why are you all green?” She finally asked as she paid.
“It’s part of the aesthetic ma’am,” Leo says before thinking about a proper answer for too long. It seemed believable enough. And this lady was building a line behind her as she thought about it.
“...Okay,” The lady finally said, walking away as Leo sighed in relief, helping the next customer.
Raph, meanwhile, was helping a young man. His phone open as he was reading off an order, presumably for his partner or friends. “And can you make sure to add only two shots of caramel for that one? The next one is a frappuccino-” The boy read aloud.
“Hold on, I can’t- type this fast,” Raph said as he tried to quickly type the order before it slipped his mind. The boy, thankfully, was kind enough to pause after Raph said something, realizing no human (or mutant truthfully) could do all those additions to every drink so quickly. The boy went to the waiting counter. The next customer was a much older gentleman, seeming very tired and as if he didn’t want to be out.
“And what can I get you sir?” “A tea.”
“What kind of tea?” “The tea kind.”
Raph paused, slowly looking back up to the man. Confusion and a hint of annoyance on his face. He blinked a couple times, but the man still said nothing. Staring at Raph with basically empty eyes. “One tea it is,” Raph mumbles.
After that, the rest of the shift was smooth. The boys giddy at their current success, they all excitedly looked to the door as the chime went off. Their smiles fell off quickly though, when a familiar face walked through the door.
“Baxter Stockboy!?” Leo said in surprise. Baxter looked equally as shocked to see them out so publicly. He was quick to it though, quickly pulling out some sort of invention.
“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!” Mikey urgently leaped in front of the counter of the coffee shop. “What if we uh- offer you free coffee?” Raph chimed in, gesturing to the selection of drinks listed above them.
Baxter lowered his invention. Pondering the offer.
“Aren’t you too young for-” Donnie was cut off by a rough cough from Leo. Who looked at him with an “are you kidding me” face. Donnie huffed, but didn’t continue his previous thought.
“We’ll throw in a baked good, no cost,” Leo bargained, gesturing to the display of croissants and fritters. Baxter pursed his lips.
“Fine… but I’ll be back next for you mu-”
“Okay cool, what do you want?” Leo cut off Baxter's attempt at a threat. Baxter deflated a bit, before ordering a coffee with way too much sugar for one child, and a fritter to match. As he left, satisfied with his order, the boys started closing up.
“Well, I’d say we did it boys!” Raph says as he flips the close sign over. Looking back to the, now, very neat and clean cafe. His brothers stood next to him, prideful as they looked at the cafe with satisfaction “I’ll text April, let’s-”
“April? Is the cafe closed?” The manager's voice from before was too clear, the door having been opened as he began to step out. The brother’s looked between each other and panicked. Before Donnie whacked the older man from behind. With no words they dragged the body back into the manager’s office, plopping him on the chair. Mikey tucked him in with his own suit jacket. And they were off.