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Cassandra was sick.
That could be the only reason she was feeling her stomach do stupid little flips like a dozen butterflies were trapped in it.
The only reason she could feel her heart rate pick up and why her head felt hot.
It could not be because she was currently beating up some praying mantis mutant with April, watching her hit a car being hurled towards them with her weird green glowy bat.
No way. Not in a MILLION YEARS would she fall for APRIL, of all people!
Cassandra was- ok well she wasn’t her enemy anymore, but still! Just because she gave April her number and occasionally sent her some random video at strange hours of the morning didn’t mean anything.
Sure, Raph gave her a strange look when she said she was TOTALLY UNEQUIVOCALLY NOT IN LOVE WITH APRIL but it's true!!
Cassandra could appreciate her spunk and fighting abilities but it wasn’t like she had a… a crush!
No. She simply admired April's skills in combat! And her clothing, and hair, and the way she smiled when Cassandra made a joke…
Ok. So maybe she liked April a LITTLE. But it hardly counted! Every girl feels this way about their close friends of the same gender! It was just regular old gal pal things, as the internet put it.
And yeah, so what if Cassandra googled “How to tell if your friend who's a girl wants to date you or just stay friends”, the answers she got only proved her point anyway!
Even if she WANTED to be with April, why would April ever choose her of all people? Have you seen her!? She could get with anyone she wanted! No way she would go for Cassandra. Plus- April might not even like women! Not that any of that matters because Cassandra totally didn’t want to date her, she's just saying!
“Hey, Cass!” April called out, snapping Cassandra from her thoughts, “Heads up!”
And just then, April slammed her bat into the praying mantis (Repo-Mantis? Cassandra wasn’t really paying attention) and sent him flying in her direction. Thankfully since Cassandra was super ultra mega good at fighting (as she put it), knocking out the mutant was easy.
April gave her a cheery high five, exclaiming how awesome that was, and, most importantly, how cool Cassandra looked.
HOW. COOL. CASSANDRA. LOOKED!!
It was an incredibly stupid thing to be excited about. But… April had just basically called her cool!!
Cassandra responded in her usual arrogant “Of course I looked cool! I always do!” to disguise how she really felt. If she felt anything other than pride, of course! But Cassandra would never get so happy over such a minor and trivial thing.
April gave her a light punch in the arm with the same grin that always seemed to light up whatever room she was in, even if it was outside. Heck, it probably outshone the sun but Cassandra was NOT going to admit that.
Instead, she and April parted ways and since Cassandra had nothing at all better to do, she went back to her formerly empty apartment.
Formerly, as in now she had her future son, Casey Jones Junior, (she was seriously confused at first because that implied MEN . But it turns out he was adopted so that was a massively relieving) living with her. It was honestly quite enjoyable, since the guy didn’t really know anything about the past and Cassandra was more than glad to teach him about all the wonders of violence and vigilantism. And video games. For some reason he got attached to animal crossing (April had told Cassandra to get it since it was fun, so now Cassandra had a switch and about 200 less dollars. Worth it to visit April's island though, she seemed very proud of it) and that was where Cassandra found him, on the couch, selling turnips.
“Hey, welcome back. How’d it go?” She heard him call from his seat, and Cassandra just nodded.
“It was an adequate time. You should have come along!”
Casey shrugged, pausing the game,
“I didn’t want to intrude, or third wheel or whatever it's called.”
The gears ran in Cassandra's head before the realization finally hit her.
“THIRD WHEEL - ME AND APRIL WERE ONLY HANGING OUT!!”
“Uh, sure…”
That sounded skeptical. Why did it sound skeptical?! Cassandra was telling the truth!
“It- it wasn’t a date!!”
“Yep. Totally wasn’t.”
Okay, well now it's just sarcasm.
“You- you wouldn’t understand!”
“Uh huh.”
Agreeance- Ok this was getting nowhere.
Cassandra threw her hands up in the air,
“Seriously! What is it with you- you Hamato’s INSISTING that me and April are- are in love or something! It's just- Thats- It's not happening!!”
Casey just raised an extremely judgy eyebrow and went back to his game while Cassandra stomped off to her room and put away her stuff.
Stupid… Cassandra DOES NOT like April like that! This whole situation was dumb!
Thankfully, Cassandra had just the thing to get all of this off her mind. The arcade! Specifically, with Raph. Because going alone would just be sad.
“So… you’re absolutely sure you don’t like like April?”
Cassandra huffed in exasperation at Raph, biting into her burger they had gotten after the arcade before sitting on a roof ledge, because apparently breaking the punching game machine thing gets you kicked out.
“Of course I am sure!” She said through the food, “we are hardly even friends!”
Raph raised an eyebrow at her before signing and choosing to inhale his chicken nuggets instead.
Cassandra barely even noticed he did as she started ranting,
“I mean, sure, we hang out at least once a week and go out for dinner occasionally, which MIGHT be seen as a date thing but it’s NOT because I am not in love with April and she ISN’T in love with me! Not that I’d mind- CARE if she was because like WHY would she ever choose me of all people, especially when she could want to date anyone else NOT THAT I WANT TO DATE HER OBVIOUSLY IT'S JUST-“
Her ramblings went on for a while after that, Raph completely zoning out halfway into it, severely judging her, until the ranting finally stopped
“-So NO. I do NOT love her and SHE doesn’t love me! And I despise the very notion that we do!”
“Yuh huh. You gonna finish those fries or…”
Cassandra very pointedly stared into his eyes while grabbing them and shoveling it into her mouth.
Raph rolled his eyes,
“Raph's just sayin’, April always seems to be looking at you.”
Cassandra choked on her fries while Raph just laughed when she went into a coughing fit.
She punched his arm, chugging down her drink before all but yelling,
“What do you MEAN she’s always looking at me?! ELABORATE!”
“Well, when we were having a family movie night a bit ago she wasn’t even watching the movie, just looking at your reactions and stuff,” Raph paused and took a sip of his near empty drink, “I don’t really got experience with that typa stuff, but it doesn’t seem like regular ole’ friend things, if comics have taught me anything.”
“Well- well comics aren’t accurate! They are fiction! I’m telling you, NOTHING IS GOING ON!” Cassandra stated firmly, doing her best to avoid the little part in her screaming OH MY GOD APRIL LOOKS AT ME A LOT!! And the other part that sounded like a keyboard smash vocalized.
She shook her head in an attempt to expel those (VERY FAKE) thoughts,
“The point is you are INCREDIBLY INCORRECT and WRONG. We are simply acquaintances!”
“Right, because acquaintances have sleepovers every other day.”
That, Cassandra decided, earned Raph a shove off of the roof.
“This is AWFUL, stupid, and DUMB.” Cassandra loudly complained as Mikey jabbed her suit with pins and needles.
Big Mama was hosting some sort of formal event, something to get in with human investors and also probably rob the venue of the very large and very mystic orb on display there.
Unfortunately, since the turtles were far too well known, Cassandra and April were volunteered as sacrifices, which led to Cassandra having to wear a… ew , suit.
Mikey stepped back and put an offended hand to his chest,
“Hey! I’m spending my hard earned energy to get this suit ready so I don’t want to hear any disrespect!”
Cassandra groaned in annoyance. Her arms were getting tired from keeping them up.
“Besides! Don’t you want to look good for April?”
Cassandra somehow managed to trip in place at those words before quickly steadying herself to whirl around and yell,
“WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP THINKING THAT I HAVE A CRUSH ON APRIL?!?! I DO NOT!!”
Mikey grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around, unfazed as he continued tailoring,
“Puh- lease, you two are the most in love people I have met! Haven’t you literally gone on a date with her in February? On Valentine's day?”
Cassandra sputtered but kept still (mostly to avoid being shanked by the sewing again),
“That- wait, it was VALENTINE’S day?? Also it was NOT a date!!”
Mikey just shook his head and tutted like a disapproving mother. Cassandra gave up the fight and instead continued to grouse about the whole situation.
Why did it have to be a FORMAL event? She would MUCH rather be at a concert with April or something- OR PREFERABLY BY HERSELF MIGHT SHE ADD!! But… Cassandra was curious about what April would be wearing. The Hamatos were adamant it be a surprise for some idiotic reason, and Leo especially was being sly about the whole thing, saying things like “oh you are gonna LOVE Aprils outfit,” or, “seriously, if you already didn’t like her enough before you’re going freak out. And make sure you record it!”
Cryptic, vague, and incredibly irritating, as Leo normally is.
Not that she CARED about what April was dressing in- she just- wanted to make sure April was following the theme! If- if Cassandra has to wear a formal outfit then so does she! Or whatever.
“Alright, done!” Mikey declared 10 minutes later.
“You used mystic to finish this, didn't you.”
“Maybe a liiiittle but you wouldn’t tell Raph would you?” He asked, looking at Cassandra with big puppy dog eyes while she surveyed the suit.
She rolled her eyes,
“If you agree to stop advocating for the notion that me and April like each other!”
Mikey’s face immediately fell before he dramatically sighed,
“Fine! Tell Raph! Expose your favorite future brother in law!”
Cassandra felt her face get hot and she (gentler than she wanted to) punched Mikey’s arm, who just laughed and pleaded for very fake mercy.
Yeah, that’s enough of that.
Alright, fine, Cassandra will admit it. She was nervous.
She felt way too out of place in front of the giant hotel (not Big Mamas, some other “friend” of hers) with a bunch of rich guests walking by while she stood off to the side waiting for April to show up.
Did her hair look ok? Her tie?? April probably looked way better like usual-
Never. Like never.
Just then Cassandra heard the familiar voice of April running towards her.
Her head snapped up from her jacket she was staring at and saw…
Wow. Yeah. She looks…
April was wearing a long black dress with many layers and transparent sleeves that had a small amount of glitter. Her hair was different too, tied up in a one bun. But the glasses were the same, the color being a carbon copy of Cassandra’s tie.
She suddenly felt very aware of her suit, which she just now noticed had a matching brooch to Aprils.
“Hey, Cass! Sorry it took me so long, the guys were holding me back for a little,” she said, her tone turning towards annoyance at the end.
Cassandra opened her mouth then closed it nearly 3 times before she got out words and nearly died of embarrassment,
“That… sounds like them.”
April just smiled before reaching out and grabbing Cassandra’s wrist pulling her along,
“Cmon, we gotta get in before the people we’re impersonating get inside before us!”
Right, they were only here to scope out the area and keep Big Mama from getting the orb. It wasn’t a date or anything WHICH CASSANDRA WASNT HOPING IT WAS mind you.
The interior was just like Cassandra expected, big, expensive, and had way too much gold on everything.
“Yeesh. How many chandeliers are in here?” April commented beside Cassandra with an arm hooked around hers.
“Too many,” Cassandra huffed, and April nodded.
You know, she might not enjoy much makeup, but she was extremely glad Leo talked her into it because if he didn’t she would be looking extremely red right now underneath all the foundation. FROM ALLERGIES of course! From the… rich people? Yeah, sure, that sounds about right.
They had managed to glance around a little longer before April pulled the both of them to the side behind the food table and a pillar (oh Cassandra was DEFINITELY eating that stuff later)
“Ok, Big Mama is making a speech at exactly 9pm. We have to distract her afterwards while the guys get the orb, and then we can get the heck outta dodge”
9pm… it was 8. Cassandra had to deal with snobby nepotism babies for an entire HOUR??
“The Foot Clan was much funner than this…” Cassandra grumbled, mostly to herself but April gave a fond eye roll.
“Yeah, cause that went well.”
Cassandra elbowed her in the shoulder and April laughed while leading her to the main floor.
“I really like your suit, by the way,” April commented offhandedly, turning her gaze away while Cassandra silently freaked out.
Ok. Maybe Cassandra liked April a little but it HARDLY COUNTED!! Very regular feelings to have about a friend, for sure.
It felt like time flew by quick as heck while Cassandra and April bantered whilst gorging on all the overly expensive yet under-ly large sized food.
Of course, it had to be ruined when Cassandra looked up and in the glass ceiling she saw the 4 turtle idiots waving at her, Leo holding a piece of paper reading “April and Casey sitting in a tree.”
Raph didn’t even look the slightest bit apologetic. Heck, he looked smug . And the other 2 were NOT helping.
Cassandra glared up at them and dragged a thumb across her neck, trying her best to keep April's attention away from the roof and her reddening face.
Fortunately, Cassandra didn’t have to trudge through the embarrassment for much longer as the lights suddenly turned off and spotlights centered on one specific balcony.
“It’s Big Mama!” April whispered, huddling closer just enough for Cassandra to nearly freaking DIE.
She barely even paid attention to the long winded speech because she was too distracted just… staring. How unbecoming of her, honestly! Cassandra was trained in the FOOT CLAN, she should be above this!!
Yet there she was, awkwardly blushing like a fridging teenager taking in every detail of April's face like a WEIRDO. Seriously, what was with Cassandra today??
Her distraction bit her back in the end as she was suddenly ushered forward by Big Mama herself into the middle of the stupid ball floor with April.
Crap. Did Big Mama catch onto them?
Cassandra couldn’t actually tell if she did when she said into a microphone,
“Now who doesn’t love a bit of dancing! You two, please do give a demonstration, how about? you both just look perfect for each other!”
Which- ok, hold the phone, did Big freaking Mama ALSO think that CASSANDRA AND APRIL LIKED EACH OTHER?! This was just getting ridiculous.
But even Cassandra couldn’t deny the small flutter in her stomach as she and April stumbled into sync as the dumb classical music started playing.
“They really couldn’t have chosen anything else, huh?” April joked quietly as Cassandra stared intensely at her own feet as to not trip over April.
But when she glanced at April's face she looked… no. No way. Cassandra might have gotten some training in insight of people, but April did NOT seem like the type to be embarrassed about this situation. Cassandra must have been really off her game today.
But even so, she could just barely register the moving shadows towards the orb stationed in the front of the room as Big Mama watched Cassandra and April with her hands clasped together in approval.
The Foot Clan training was really coming in clutch with the dancing, each move she somehow did great. Hockey also probably helped.
But even with Cassandra’s superior skill, it was superior for a reason because April managed to trip over Cassandra’s feet and nearly take both of them down, before Cassandra’s reflexes kicked in and she quickly caught her, doing a pose like they were in some sort of stupid romcom movie or dumb fan fiction.
Time seemed to slow for a second and their faces got awkwardly close as Cassandra was doing her darndest not to drop April, but even those thoughts were pushed aside as they looked into each other's eyes. If it was possible, flower petals and weird sparkly bubbles would probably have shown up.
It must have been the perfect timing though, because the song ended and the applause roared, no one noticing that the very large mystic sphere had long since disappeared.
“Bravo! My, that was just magnificent!” Big Mama complimented, surprisingly enough, “why, that reminds me of my younger days with Lou. Quite the performance, you two!”
Cassandra very stiffly and robotically brought April and herself back up and nodded at Big Mamas words.
“Yep! But uh, me and my um,” April glanced at Cassandra nervously, “my partner here really must get going. Some… important meetings we need to go to right?”
Cassandra blinked a few times processing the words before (VERY CONVINCINGLY MIGHT SHE ADD) exclaiming,
“Right! Correct! We have some very interesting business things to do so we should leave right this minute!”
Cassandra grabbed April by the shoulders and very gently (to her at least) began pushing her away while April shouted thanks to everyone behind her until they made it out of the hotel with a sigh, before breaking into a run as Big Mama was definitely about to notice the missing artifact.
The two of them made it a few blocks before the rest of the turtles showed up.
“Woohoo! That's what I’m talking about!” Mikey cheered while the other 2 (not including Donnie) whooped.
“Gotta say, that dancing was real convincing. Almost like you two were actually in love or something.” Leo smirked, knowing damn well exactly what he was doing.
April somehow managed to hit Leo on the arm for that first,
“Oh, quiet! You guys are the ones who did all the work anyway!”
“Yes yes, it was extremely romantic and everything, but we should focus on the task at hand- that being, get this crazy mystic orb home before Big Mama finds us,” Donnie interrupted, ever the optimist.
Leo and Mikey sighed in defeat and agreed anyway, before waving their goodbyes.
But Raph stayed back for a second and put a friendly hand on Cassandra’s shoulder who just glared at him, daring Raph to say any of that strange conception that Cassandra and April had a crush on each other.
“For real though, guys, great job.”
Cassandra just crossed her arms while April smiled and took the compliment…
… until Raph had to ruin it by adding,
“You seriously should just admit your crushes though.” And before either of them could process THAT, Raph had already disappeared.
Stupid ninjas and their stupider training…
The pair just stood, frozen, doing their best to ignore what just happened and what was just said.
A moment later April coughed into her fist and spoke.
“Soo… wanna like… get pizza?”
Now, the smart idea would be to say no, go home, get changed out of this awfully uncomfortable suit and waterboard herself in makeup remover to avoid any more embarrassment, but Cassandra, while she wouldn’t admit it, was NOT smart enough for that, and agreed instead.
They must have looked hilariously out of place as they ate, because seriously, the food from before was way too small for the cost.
Neither of them said anything for at least 10 minutes.
“So-” They both said at the same time, before backtracking with a “No you go first-” which went back and forth a few moments before April was chosen as the one to talk,
“Alright. So. About what uh, Raph said…”
Cassandra tensed up. Look- she TOTALLY didn’t have a crush on her and everything but a small part of her mind worried that what if April said Raph was wrong about it? That she didn’t like Cassandra. God. Cassandra was a MESS today, seriously. SHE DOESN'T LOVE ARIL! And it would be REALLY nice if her brain got the memo about that!
April fidgeted with her sleeve looking uncharacteristically nervous before continuing,
“Not like I really want to ruin our friendship or anything- but i’m gonna be honest,” She took a deep breath, “I’ve had a major crush on you for ages and I may or may not have gottenhelpfromtheguystoseeifmaybeyoulikedmetoo.”
Cassandra blinked.
Wait. WHAT??
So Cassandra had been stressing about April not liking her back for NOTHING! Not that- that she liked April obviously! It was just…
FINE. SHE’LL ADMIT THAT SHE HAS A SMALL MINOR CRUSH ON HER. YOU HAPPY?
“And when we heard Big Mama was holding this whole fancy ball thing I kinda sort of used it as an opportunity to get closer to you BUT NOT CREEPILY I SWEAR it's just- well- I really like you and I was getting uber confused with all the mixed signals you were sending me and everything so I just figured I should just, you know, lay it all out.”
April laughed awkwardly at the end while Cassandra just stared blankly, pizza in her hand slowly falling out of her grip.
It took a while but eventually the words registered and if it was possible steam would be coming from her ears.
“So you- wait. This was just like, what, a plan to ask me out?? PREPOSTREOUS!!” Cassandra exclaimed, slamming her hands on to the table, “WHY WOULD YOU NEED A PLAN?! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME SOONER! Not that I would um, say yes or anything BUT I SUPPOSE IF IT WOULD FULFILL YOUR HAPPINESS THEN I WOULD AGREE!”
Cassandra huffed and fell back into her seat.
“So you like- you’re agreeing to date me?” April asked, confused but her smile was still blinding (as usual, Cassandra begrudgingly agreed)
“WELL IF YOU WANT TO THEN YES, I… guess I am!”
“Oh. Well… neat.”
They sat there in awkward silence for a little while.
“So we’re like, girlfriends now?” April asked.
“Well- duh . That's- that's how it works.”
“I’m honestly surprised this all worked out, no fights or plot contrivances at all- but like, I seriously can't believe we’re like. DATING now.”
Cassandra was about to respond before being very rudely interrupted by a large explosion from just behind their booth table, the wall now sporting a new giant hole in it with the turtles fighting some random yokai with Big Mama outside in the background.
“... I stand corrected.” April revised and Cassandra smiled sharply.
“The day wouldn’t be complete without it!”
“Yeah, fair enough. I bet I could beat up more of the baddies then you though!”
“Oh, you are SO ON!!”