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“So, he’s your cousin?” April asks as they walk across the blacktop, summer sun beating down on them.
Saying 'it's hot' would be an understatement. Casey should maybe wear something other than black, like his dad suggested, but it’s all about vibe. Also, he didn’t want to waste time looking for another outfit. The apartment has had a nasty sort of gloom hanging about it. Everyone seems to be walking on eggshells and blatantly ignoring the elephant in the room. The elephant being the new teen living with them with some shiny new trauma. It hasn’t been this uncomfortable since Casey’s mom died. And even then at least it wasn’t as awkward as it is now.
“No, he’s my mom’s cousin’s kid. Or, like, her cousin’s in-law’s kid. Or something.” He and April had gotten slushies from the corner 7-11 down the street from April’s place, but it’s mostly liquid at this point. The sun is punishing them for just existing at this point.
April's face scrunches in thought. “Does that make him your mom’s second cousin? Or, wait, your first cousin once removed, I think? Or second cousin-in-law?”
“I dunno, O’Neil.” Casey wipes the sweat clinging to his forehead on the sleeve of his jacket. Long sleeves were definitely a mistake. “I didn’t exactly ask for a family tree. All I know is he’s here and now I gotta share my room.” He tries to blow the hair out of his eyes, fails, then rakes a hand through his bangs, pushing them back. “It sucks.”
April makes a sound somewhere between a hum and a huff of air. It’s her ‘I’m judging you’ sound. “He’s probably going through a lot. It’s a big change, and it sounds like he...” She pauses, looking across the blacktop at a bird hopping through a small patch of weeds. “He lost a lot, sounds like. I know it sucks sharing your space, but maybe take it easy on him?”
Casey rolls his eyes. “I’m not gonna be an asshole to a kid whose entire family just died. It’s just—I don’t know him. He doesn’t know me. I’m giving him space. Besides, dad and my sister are both being so weird about the whole thing. I don’t think she really gets what all happened. But she keeps talking about how he can talk to her because mom died so she gets it or some shit even though she doesn’t, she was like three when mom died, and the fucking look on his face... I don’t even—” Cool, sticky liquid pours over his hand. He’s crushed the cup. The clear plastic lid has popped off, it lays at his feet rocking slightly.
April nimbly scoops up the lid and takes the cup from his hand. She jogs over to a trashcan and throws both of their cups away.
By the time she comes back Casey has already wiped his hand on his jeans. It hadn’t helped much, and now his skin is tacky and the side of his pant leg is wet.
She stares at him for a moment, and it feels like she’s looking through him; through his bones and sinew. It feels like she can see right into his soul.
“It’s a lot,” she says again. “For all of you. It’s okay if you feel weird about it, or if it takes a while for you to adjust. That doesn’t make you a bad person.”
Casey breaks eye contact. Kicks at some loose gravel. “Yeah, whatever.”
April follows when he starts walking again.
“You could’ve invited him to hang out with us,” she says, apropos nothing. “I wouldn’t mind. It’d let him get out of the apartment. Then maybe you two could get to know each other better.”
Casey rolls his eyes again, but manages to crack a grin at her. “Yeah, but then we couldn't hang with the guys. And there is no way I’m staying above ground when it's like a million degrees outside. Maybe next time.”
April’s eyes glint and a smile plays on her lips. “Maybe next time.”
-
‘Next time’ turns out to be the following day.
They’d stayed out late into the night, marathoning one of Donnie’s dumb space shows that Casey is ridiculously addicted to, followed by a tournament of Mario Cart on the turtle’s ancient game system to decide who got to pick the next movie. He hadn’t gotten back until well past his curfew of midnight but his dad hadn’t been waiting up. There'd just been a note on the counter, telling him there were leftovers in the fridge.
His not-cousin, Danny, is set up on an air mattress in Casey’s room until they can get him an actual bed frame and a real mattress, and while Casey at least makes an attempt to be quiet, he’s pretty sure Danny wakes up sometime between Casey tripping on a shoe he didn’t put away and falling into bed.
Or maybe Danny was awake the whole time. The guy’s got some wicked eye bags. Casey would be surprised if he gets the recommended 9 hours of sleep each night.
Whatever.
Casey rolls over and promptly passes out.
“—must be Danny.” He hears, and groans as he fishes for his phone that has fallen between his bed and the wall.
9:42 AM.
Casey groans a muffled curse into his pillow.
“Yeah,” says Danny, perpetual low volume that’s basically just above a whisper. Casey doesn’t think he’s heard the guy speak at full volume the entire time he’s been here.
“April,” Casey groans. “It’s not even noon yet.”
He can practically hear April roll her eyes. “You can’t just sleep the day away, Jones. Gotta get up and face the day.”
“We were out until 2 AM, April. Leave me alone.”
Casey’s blankets are pulled roughly from his safe cocoon. He moans and rolls over, blinking blearily up at the figures hovering over his bed.
April is smirking down at him and even Danny has the slightest smile playing on his lips.
“Your dad let me in on his way to work,” she says. “Your sister’s at her friend's. We’re taking Danny for ice cream.”
“We are?” Asks Casey.
“You are?” Danny echos.
April rolls her eyes and Casey is pretty sure he hears her grumble, “Boys,” under her breath. “Get dressed! I wanna beat the crowds!”
“...Crowds?” he hears Danny mumble. “It’s not even 10.”
Casey groans but sits up, running a hand through his hair. “It’s better to just listen to her, before she comes back and kicks our asses. She’s a monster dude.”
Danny looks like he might respond before April calls, “I heard that!” from the kitchen.
They get dressed.
-
Ice cream is... fine. Even though Casey hasn’t even had breakfast and his brain is only at like 60% capacity and it’s like 10 in the morning—it’s fine.
All things considered, Danny’s a pretty normal dude. Sure, he’s got bouts where he gets all quiet and distant, but April’s pretty good at drawing people into conversation.
They can’t ask about his family (dead) or his friends (also probably dead) or about where he’s from (Casey’s pretty sure most of the people Danny knew are also dead) and Casey’s a little nervous asking about his hobbies in case that reminds him about his friends or family and how they’re all—dead.
It’s really fucking depressing, actually.
Casey’s lost people. He gets it—sort of. But on this big a scale? He has no idea on how to even begin to comprehend that.
They actually do a pretty good job though, of talking about nothing for a few hours. April won’t let them go back to the apartment and keeps them out and about even with the sun beating down on them. She drags them to the mall and talks Danny into getting a hat that she insists looks good on him but Casey thinks it flattens out his hair weird.
The sun is getting fairly low in the sky, and Casey’s just texted his dad that he won’t be home for dinner because April decided that Danny had to try a New York hot dog, so they’d taken the subway halfway across the city to what she insisted was the best vendor even though Casey thinks it tastes pretty much the same as all the other hot dog guys in town.
They’re sitting in a patch of grass waiting for April to finish eating, because girls are so slow at eating for literally no reason at all, when movement out of the corner of his eye catches Casey’s attention.
He glances down the alleyway across the street and sees—
Shit.
Mikey is waving at him frantically and pointing at a skateboard.
It’s broad daylight. Pedestrians are milling about and Casey's stupid whatever cousin is right there.
Casey makes a slicing motion across his neck but Mikey just tilts his head and gestures to the skateboard again.
“Woah, hey!” Casey snatches Danny’s napkin and little paper tray from him. “You all done with these? Cool, I’ll throw them away for you.”
“Uh,” says Danny.
“Casey!” April scolds. She’s still got a bite or two of hot dog left though, so he waves her off.
“Sorry O’Neil, bros before—uh—” He dodges the pebble she throws at him. “I’ll be right back.”
Casey jogs across the street and tosses their trash in a bin, even though there was one much closer to where they were sitting. He risks a glance back to make sure Danny is distracted with whatever April is saying before slipping into the alley.
Mikey beams at him. Casey drags him behind a dumpster. “What the hell, dude,” Casey whispers harshly. “Someone could’ve seen you. Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
Mikey rolls his eyes. “That's what Don said too. And Leo. I didn’t try Raph because last time I went in his room, he threw a shoe at me. And we don’t even wear shoes! But I’m awake and I’m bored so we should do some skating! I found an old sewer last week that hardly has any slime in it! Let’s go!”
Casey spares a look back at the entrance of the alley, blissfully empty for now, but who knows how long before April and Danny start to look for him. “A little busy here dude. We got a normie with us. Why don't you ask Measurehead or whatever.”
“Leatherhead,” Mikey corrects. “And he doesn’t like skateboarding. Also he’s been kinda moody lately, I dunno. And Mando’s been hanging with a weird group so I didn’t wanna bother him so I thought—”
Whatever Mikey thought is cut off by the sound of engines.
“Whelp!” a loud, booming voice calls from somewhere behind him. “You thought you could hide from me! But a hunter is always as good as his prey.”
Mikey and Casey run back to the street.
A large man encased in metal with green fire billowing from his head is riding some sort of hoverboard and pointing what looks like a large cyberpunk bazooka directly at April and Danny.
The pedestrians on the street avoid looking at the hovering metal man and give him a wide berth, slowly clearing the street and going along with their business.
New York. What a town.
“Woah! Dude!” Mikey’s pulled out his nunchaku and has lowered into a fighting stance. “Do you think he’s with the Foot?”
“I dunno. But we’re gonna take him out.” Casey feels utterly naked. He hadn’t thought to pack any weapons, hadn’t even considered that they could be attacked. He’s so stupid, so naive. As if they’ve ever gotten a break even once.
Casey can see April already pulling out her tessen because she's always prepared. She's slowly raising up from the grass into a squat so she can be quicker to her feet.
Danny remains seated, looking utterly bored.
“I literally do not have the energy for this, Skulker,” Danny calls up to the metal man.
Casey watches as Skulker? Keeps his eyes (glowing and green) on Danny, not even sparing April a glance as she creeps away and around to his side.
If Casey lets his sort-of-cousin die in his first week in New York, his dad is going to ground him for forever.
“Danny!” he calls, and he’s taking off towards Skulker McMetalface with a “cowabunga!” from Mikey. “Get outta here, man!”
Danny glances over at him, eyes flicking over to the giant mutant turtle following Casey out of the alley.
Shit.
Danny waves him off with one hand. Flippant. Lazily. “It’s fine!” Danny yells, but Casey can barely hear him over whatever Skulker is shouting down.
April is tense, with her tessen flared behind her, ready to strike. Mikey is yelling out a battle cry as he swings his nunchaku back. Casey clenches his fist and prepares to break his hand on metal.
Danny stands up. He rolls his head back and forth and glares up at Skulker.
“Seriously, man,” he says, “we’re not doing this. And if you insist on doing this I’m going to kick your ass, and then leave you in the thermos for a week.”
Skulker laughs and then shoots Danny.
Or, he shoots at the place where Danny was standing only seconds prior.
Danny leaps to the side moments before the blast hits, and then there’s a bright light that makes Casey see spots when he binks.
Danny has white hair, a black sort of body suit, and he’s flying.
He also looks pissed as hell.
Casey, April, and Mikey all congregate together, dumbfounded. Staring as the two flit around each other trading blows and blasts almost faster than Casey can track. Danny lands a solid hit on Skulker's face, and Casey swears he can see a dent in the metal.
Danny grabs Skulker's arm and flips him midair, slamming him down hard into the concrete below.
The cement cracks under the weight of the blow.
Danny floats down slowly, face drawn tight as he pulls out what looks like a thermos.
“I’ll send you back when I’m feeling generous,” he says, voice low and deadly. “You tell everyone that I’m off limits. I’m done. I don’t want to play these games anymore. I don’t want anyone to bother me. I want to grieve and be left in peace. If a single one of you steps a molecule out of line I have half a mind to sick the GIW on you. I won’t, but know I can be just as creative as them.”
He flies closer until he’s hovering just over Skulker, face to metal face.
“Leave. Me. Alone.”
Skulker nods.
Danny presses a button on the thermos and it starts to glow, a blast of light shoots out and Skulker is sucked up into it. Like freaking Luigi’s Mansion or some shit.
Another flash of light and Danny is back to normal. He looks exhausted. As if to prove Casey right he collapses right there in the street and buries his face in his hands, thermos abandoned at his side.
“Duuuude!” Mikey yells, and runs forward to Danny. “That was sick!”
Danny pulls his face from his hands, his cheeks are wet and his eyes are red.
He and Mikey stare at each other for a moment while Casey and April hold their breath.
“Uh,” says Danny eventually. “Thanks. I think.”
Mikey flaps his arms excitedly. “What was that! What are you! That was crazy wild, dude! You were flying, holy shit!!”
The corner of Danny’s mouth quirks up. “That’s a little, uh, hypocritical of you, isn’t it? Are you a, um, turtle?”
Mikey beams. “Obvs I’m a turtle, dude. I have a shell. Now what are you? You looked like when our T.V. goes all wonky and the colors get all weird and Raph has to smack the side of it to fix it. And who was that dude! He was all ‘I’m going to capture you’ and you were all ‘not a chance because I’m the terminator’ and then WAM POW BLAM!!! He was on the ground!! It was incredible! You’re incredible! Can you skateboard? We should go skateboarding.”
“Oh, uh,” says Danny. “That was sort of a lot all at once.”
Casey manages to take a steadying breath and walks toward them, hands fisted in his pockets and hoping he looks nonchalant. “How about starting with what that was? It was wicked, man, don’t get me wrong. But also...”
Danny looks a bit sheepish, and rubs the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry. I should’ve warned you that things can get... weird around me. But to be fair if I’d known you were friends with a giant turtle I’d have known you’d be more, uh, cool about it.”
Casey cracks a smile and offers a hand to Danny, pulling him up. “Yeah, looks like we’ve got a lot of cousin-ly bonding to do.”
“Sure sure sure!” says Mikey. “But back to the important issue.” He grabs Danny by the shoulders and stares him square in the eye. “Do you want to be my friend?”
Danny laughs. “Sure?”
Mikey pulls Danny in and swings him around. “Yes! My bros are gonna be so jealous I got to you first. Let’s go skateboarding!.”
“Uh.” Danny lets himself be pulled down the alley. “I can’t actually skateboard.”
“That’s okay!” Mikey pats him on the back then scoops down to pick up his abandoned board. “I’ll teach you! I’m pretty much an expert.”
Casey snorts. “An expert at cracking your head open maybe.”
Mikey shoots him a glare. “I’ll have you know I haven’t done that in months!”
April laughs. “Yeah, because we make you wear a helmet now.”
“Don’t listen to them, bro,” Mikey says as he yanks up the old manhole cover. “They’re just jealous of my awesomeness.”
Danny smiles. “Well, maybe if you’re the one teaching me I should get a helmet, too. Also—are we, uh, going down there?” He points down the dark hole.
Mikey grins. “Where else did you think giant turtles lived?”
“Touche,” Danny says, and lets Mikey lower him down into the hole. (Casey tries not to let his heart swell at how comfortable and at ease Danny seems to be with Mikey already. That’s sappy, and totally not cool.) They follow him down, one after another. “I didn’t want to assume,” Danny says to Mikey. “I mean, not all ghosts live in graveyards, you know? That’s just a cliche.”
Mikey gasps. “Is that what that guy was? Is that what you are!? Ohmigod! You have to tell me everything.”
Danny’s laugh echoes around them.