Archive of Our Own

 It all started three months after Raphael and Cassandra started dating.

 And that all started after an absolute mess of a vigilante night. If you had asked Raphael before that whole event if he had a crush on Cassandra he would have swiftly and easily said no. Casey was just a good friend, someone easy to spend time with who could match his energy. 

 Sure he thought she was beautiful, but who didn’t? Her eyes, her cheekbones, the muscles on her shoulders and arms that proved she could indeed toss an entire dumpster into your face. She could make torn jeans and a crop top look good. Or a pastel denim jacket with black slacks and high heel boots. And on one singular occasion, a black cocktail dress. 

 Literally anyone who had vision would think she was pretty. 

 Yes he admired her strength. Yes he loved watching her fight, or just fighting her because he knew she’d never flinch away from him. 

 But he just figured those were all par the course of having a best friend. 

 The fight that evening shifted his entire perspective. They attempted to stop a massive robbery of an armored truck that got entirely hijacked. Obviously the car had to be stopped.

 Unfortunately their usual in sync manner of thinking about these problems didn’t click that night.

 Raphael figured the easiest way to do that would be to jump in front of the truck to stop it. Cassandra chose to jump on the back of it and try to stop the driver directly.

 Only after her mystic weapon clones smashed through the windshield did she realize the mishap. The driver swerved. And while Raphael was prepared to stop the incoming front of the truck, the entire side of it was a different matter. 

 The entire thing crashed on top of him, which didn’t feel good, but he could tell nothing broke.

 “Raph?” Cassandra screamed. “Are you okay?” 

 He struggled to push it off him, and as he did he heard the click of a gun.

 “Don’t move!” One of the thieves shouted. 

 Were they aiming that at Casey? Raphael couldn’t see but it didn’t matter, the risk was there. 

 He summoned a projection and let it grow as he kept shoving against the truck. With a massive push the entire thing flipped back over, the guys screaming the entire time. They finally climbed out of the broken window and tried to run.

 “Take that!” Cassandra screamed. With a massive bang a rock went sailing through the air, nailing one guy in the back of the head and putting him on the ground. A beat later she repeated the attack and the other guy went down. 

 Raphael took a moment to catch his breath, then turned to smile at her. “See? This is why you don’t even need a long range—”

 Suddenly Cassandra jumped toward him. Suddenly her hands gripped the sides of his face while her feet rested against his plastron.

 Suddenly her mouth was on his. 

 Raphael didn’t even get time to process it at first. The blast of police sirens had them both remembering that they needed to ditch the scene so they scrambled off for a place to hide. 

 He wasn’t sure why they picked an alley way instead of on top of a building. Maybe for the faster sewer access if it became necessary. 

 Of course she didn’t say anything at first. She just sat on the ground with her arms crossed, looking the most intense version of pissed off and frightened he’d ever seen. 

 He called her name three times, all three variations too, and finally she met his gaze. 

 “What the heck was that?” He asked.

 “We are not talking about it.”

 “We are totally talking about it. We aren’t just gonna pretend that didn’t happen.”

 “Spur of the moment accident.”

 “How do you do something like that by accident?”

 There was a lot of yelling, probably about twenty minutes worth of it. Just Raphael trying to crack open the walnut shell she’d put up around herself. 

 “Fine!” Cassandra finally caved. “I don’t know. I just saw you were alive and okay and I just… wanted to. So I did. Happy?” 

 His cheeks felt unbelievably warm. “Huh? You wanted to?” He paused for the longest time, feeling his brain start to cook from how hard it was working. “Didn’t you tell me you only like girls?”

 “I know!” She continued to scream. “That’s what makes this so frustrating and confusing.” She crossed her arms again, now pulling her knees up close. 

 Raphael really didn’t like seeing her so upset. “Well uh… it’s fine. Like you said, we can just pretend this didn’t happen.”

 “Now you say that?” 

 “Well I wanted to at least know the reason! Now we can uh… process it and then move on. Or whatever.” 

 Cassandra narrowed her eyes. “What am I? A coward?”

 “Cass—”

 “No.” She jumped to her feet in an instant. “Maybe I do like girls, and maybe that does make it confusing, but I’m not about to just hide from it until it goes away.” She stomped over to him and put a finger against his chest. “I like you, Hamato Raphael. Maybe I don’t completely understand why yet, but I do. So there.” 

 And Raphael didn’t know how to respond to that. 

 Cassandra, as usual, hated the silence. “Well? Do you accept my proposal or not?”

 “What proposal?”

 “That we should date!”

 “Casey, absolutely nowhere in there did you mention us dating.”

 “It was implied! Just say yes or no!”

 “I— yeah. Sure!”

 Raphael had no idea why he said that. 

 But that was that. They were dating now. And while Raphael kept trying to make sense of how he actually felt about Cassandra, she of course went into the situation with everything she had. She insisted on date nights whenever possible, which to be honest wound up being more crime fighting evenings making Raphael question things even more.

 Did he feel that way about Casey? He even dared to present the question to his adopted kid, Comet. The little psychic mushroom could read his mind, after all, surely they knew. 

 “Love Cassandra. Know you do.” They responded while puffing out their cheeks. 

 “Yeah but like… romantically?”

 “Can’t say. Love feel different, taste different, between everyone. Can only guess.”

 Raphael frowned. “So what do you guess?”

 They reached out to hold the tips of their feet in their hands and rocked back and forth. “Dad gets fuzzy feeling with Cassandra. Similar feeling Donnie has with Jase.”

 And Raphael couldn’t deny that. For the longest time he figured it was just the kind of buzz you got from being with your best friend, but maybe there was something else going on. 

 Besides, he liked being with Casey, and definitely didn’t mind when she decided to kiss him. 

 As long as they were both comfortable with that, maybe he didn’t need to put a label on it.

 So the next three months passed by in a typical fashion. He trained with his siblings, took care of Comet, and anytime he and Cassandra had an open evening they went out on the town. On rare occasions they actually just had dinner. One night she even tried to take them to a fancier location, though they were asked to leave when she started a fight with another customer.

 Raphael didn’t stop her because the guy was making comments about her odd eating habits. And Raph didn’t see what was wrong with it. If you liked the food enough, shouldn’t you try shoveling as much as possible into your jaw? He was always in awe of how fast Casey could eat sometimes.

 It gave him that fuzzy feeling.

 But their chaotic relationship isn’t entirely the point. 

 Three months into it, something happened. Something that shouldn’t even be that important, but it was.

 After an evening of late night crime fighting, Raphael crashed at Cassandra’s apartment. He woke up still on the floor with her half draped over his back. The warmth was comfortable, even more so when she lazily drew lines over his scalp. 

 Then she mumbled, “Morning, babygirl.”

 And Raphael’s heart thumped. 

 He couldn’t describe it as something clicking into place, because that wasn’t it. It felt more like when the lid of a stubborn jar finally begins to turn after minutes of trying to wrestle it open. Or like when you manage to unclog the sink and sigh in relief as the water finally drains. Or maybe even when you finally down a glass of water after a long workout. 

 The problem was, Raphael didn’t know why he felt that way. 

 “What did you say?” He decides to prompt. That maybe having it repeated would help him make sense of it.

 Cassandra’s mumbles were inaudible as she slouched, then suddenly sat up again. “Huh? Did I say something?” 

 “Yeah, you um… called me ‘babygirl.’” Somehow even saying it himself made a tingle run over his shell.

 “Oh, sorry.” She yawned. “Not thinking at this hour.” 

 Raphael’s throat felt tight. Should he say anything? Just let it go and forget it never happened?

 “Fine.” He spoke from behind his arms as he curled up even more. “It’s fine, I mean. You could call me that if you wanted… I think.” 

 Cassandra’s hand pressed against the top of his head. “You think?”

 “I-I dunno.” He stuttered. “I didn’t hate it or anything.” 

 He finally looked up at her to see her squinting. Exhaustion still evident behind her eyes, but laser focused at the same time. 

 Raphael tried to shrink his voice even further. “Is… that weird?” 

 “No.” She let go of him and stood. “I can try it again sometime. But first! We require breakfast!” Her shout shook the walls before she took off for the door. 

 Raphael decided to go about the rest of his day like normal, and therefore everything shifted back into normalcy. Cassandra didn’t use the pet name again initially, sticking to her usual terms of Raph, Red, and sometimes even Angel. 

 But then she used it once when they were getting ready to sleep. And again when helping Raph file his nails. And the final click of the lock on the safe was when she said it after convincing Raph to let her draw some make-up on his mask. 

 The second he looked in the mirror and saw the sharp eyeliner combined with the complimentary pink eyeshadow, the pet name wouldn’t stop looping in his head.

 Babygirl. Babygirl. Babygirl.

 Girl. 

 Raphael screamed. 

 Cassandra scrambled away. “Wh-what? What’s wrong?”

 Oh no. He absolutely could not explain that in a way that didn’t make him sound like he’d utterly lost it. “N-nothing! I just…” He glanced at the mirror and then gestured to it with both hands. “I love this so much. You weren’t kidding. The sharp eyeliner really adds to the intimidation factor.”

 Her eyes studied him again, then she crossed her arms and huffed. “Of course. If my enemies know I can handle a brush with such fine skill, they will tremble in terror when they see a blade in my hand.” 

 Raphael chuckled, glad they were on a completely different topic and he could forget about this right now. “That’s the only reason? Not because it makes you look drop dead gorgeous?” He dared to poke her on the chin.

 She slapped his hand away. “That is only the secondary reason.” 

 He laughed again, at least until he glanced at the mirror and forced himself to turn away.

 He decided not to look at it for the rest of the afternoon, and that night when he got home, he furiously washed his mask clean. After hanging it up to dry, he stared at his maskless reflection. Some days it jarred him to see nothing but his green scales, and he always hated to look at the scarring around his right eye. Sadly his spare masks were in his room, so he headed in that direction. 

 Comet found him before he got there, though really the little psychic probably knew where he was the entire time. He still smiled as they ran toward him and he reached down to lift them onto his shoulder.

 “Hey Muffin Top, good day?”

 His kid stared through him, the spots on their cap swirling between blue and orange. “Dad is worried.”

 “Just thinking too much.” He tried to smile. “As I’m sure you can see.” 

 Comet’s eyes stayed fixed on one spot. A low hum buzzed in the air, a sound that Raph learned meant they were focusing really hard. 

 Then they suddenly put their hand on his nose. “Mom?” 

 That same tingle spun over his shell. His footsteps came to an immediate halt. 

 It wasn’t even the first time Comet had called him that. Every now and then in the early mornings the title would slip out while they were still rubbing their eyes. Raphael just assumed it happened because of how Comet communicates. 

 “Comet?” He focused on their eyes. “Do you know what’s going on with me?”

 Their spots immediately turned blue and they let go. “Can’t explain. Too hard.” Then they bounced once and pointed down the hall. “Uncle Donnie could help.”

 Could he? Raphael was about to ask how when he remembered that his brother was only called that because he preferred it to any other sibling title. Donnie had, as he defined it, no gender. He’d even done hours of research on the subject at the young age of twelve.

 Yeesh, did Raphael just call twelve young? Now he felt old more than anything.

 Comet patted his cheek and brought him back to the present.

 Right, get a new mask, then see if Donnie was busy. 

 Donatello was in fact, not busy, not really. Raphael assumed as much from the open door, but he somewhat regretted walking in when he heard his brother talking on the phone. 

 “Don’t talk nonsense.” Donnie spoke in that same sing-song tone he always used when talking to his boyfriend, Jase. The turtle was even laying on his stomach, swinging his feet back and forth. “I bet if you tried on one of those you’d look utterly divine.” 

 Raphael should just walk away, but it’d be funnier to interrupt. “Donnie.”

 The softshell screamed and almost threw his phone in the process of sitting up. Then he scrambled to adjust his grip and put it back against his face. “Ugh, call you back in a moment. My dumb-dumb big brother has decided to interrupt.” A brief pause, then that wistful smile appeared on his face again. “Love you too.”

 While Donnie hung up, Raphael kept tossing the term “brother” back and forth in his brain. He didn’t have any special reaction to that, certainly nothing negative. Why should he? His younger siblings had been calling him that for their whole lives. 

 “What is it, Raph?” Donnie frowned at him. “I don’t interrupt you when you have sappy phone calls with your girlfriend.”

 Raphael blinked. “Cass and I don’t do sappy phone calls.”

 “Well maybe you should!”

 “Anyway.” He rolled his eyes and changed the subject before this turned into an argument. “I came to… ask for some advice.”

 “Ah hah!” Donnie jumped to his feet and pointed at him. “I knew it was only a matter of time. After all that teasing, you finally need my relationship expertise.”

 Raphael crossed his arms. “Hardly calling you an expert considering on your last date you got distracted long enough to accidentally leave your boyfriend by himself on the tour boat.”

 Donnie waved his arms frantically. “What? Did he tell you about that?”

 “Yeah, he was bitching up a storm in the group chat.”

 “What group chat?”

 Raphael smirked. “The one he has with your brothers so he can gossip about your date screw ups.”

 “Okay, that’s it, you’re not getting my advice.” Donnie walked over to him and tried to shove him out of the door.

 Raphael blinked a couple of times. Wait. He got off track again. “No, wait, hang on Donnie.” He shoved out a hand to keep himself from going any further. “I didn’t even come here for relationship advice.”

 His little brother kept glaring at him. “Then what do you want?” 

 “It’s more like…” Raphael grit his teeth as he tried to find the best words. “Gender advice.”

 Donnie’s eyes immediately popped open and he stared for a solid two seconds before throwing his hands up. “Finally!”

 “Huh?”

 “Give me all the details, spare nothing.” He darted over to his desk to pick up a notepad and a pen. “What finally gave you the insight?”

 “Donnie, hang on.” Raphael stepped further into the room and then hit the button to shut the door. “What do you mean ‘finally?’” He put his fists on his hips. 

 Donatello froze, his pen hovering over the fresh page in front of him. Once again his eyes were wide and his mouth pressed together in a line. “Well…”

 Raphael fixed his stare to make it clear he wouldn’t let this go without an answer.

 Donnie sighed. “Look, Comet may or may not have made a slip up around me that had me asking questions. Not that they would explain much, since they wanted you to figure it out yourself.”

 “Huh?” Raphael couldn’t help but squeak. “What, you’re telling me my kid knows more about my gender than me?”

 “Theoretically Comet knows more about all our genders than us.” Donnie pulled back his jacket sleeve and opened the holo screen on his gauntlet. “According to them, the way their pronoun usage translates into language is… difficult to describe. They end up doing a lot of simplifying, but try to make sure it always reflects how someone sees themselves.” 

 “But I’m not a girl.” Raphael immediately blurted out and somehow it tasted sour on his tongue. “I mean, I’ve never thought of myself as one.” 

 Donnie raised a brow and his pen. “Until now?”

 “I don’t know!” He couldn’t help but shout as his thoughts began racing again. He paced back and forth a few times before finally just sitting down. Then he buried his face in his palms. “Ugh, this is gonna sound so stupid.” 

 The room fell silent for a moment, apart from the soft taps of Donnie stepping closer and sitting down across from him. 

 “Apologies,” his little brother said. “My interest in the subject is causing me to get ahead of myself. Try to tell me what’s going on, in your own words.”

 Raphael moved a finger so he could peek at his sibling. “You better not laugh.” 

 Donnie put a hand to his chest. “Laughter on lockdown, Captain, now what’s going on?”

 So Raphael explained it the best he could, which wasn’t great. He just tried to stick to the facts for now. About Casey’s pet name, how he reacted to it and then how he reacted to seeing make-up on his face. And finally realizing that the times Comet called him “Mom,” hadn’t just been the child mistaking Raph for their lost parent. 

 “I don’t know.” Raphael sighed. “I struggled enough with putting together how I feel about Casey, and now this is happening, and it makes no sense. If Comet was calling me ‘Mom’ before, why didn’t I react to that?”

 His brother, who had been rapidly writing notes the entire time, kept going. “You stated that you assumed Comet was just mistaking you for someone else. Or it was just an error from their telepathy. As opposed to Casey’s pet name which is specifically directed at you.”

 “I mean, maybe.” Raphael shrugged. “But you calling me brother doesn’t bug me. It never has. Or Dad calling me ‘son.’ If I was a girl, wouldn’t that bother me?”

 Donnie held up a finger as he smiled. “Ah, Raphaela, you forget that gender is in fact, not a binary. There’s no reason you couldn’t be both.” 

 He already felt his brain frying in two gallons of oil. “Huh?”

 “You already comprehend that Comet is non-binary, though they like to present themselves in what humans consider to be a feminine manner.”

 “I guess?” Raphael scratched his head. “I just know their pronouns. Guess I never exactly asked about their gender.”

 “I have.” Donnie stared straight ahead. “They tried to show me and I could not describe it to you. Though it is interesting. You sometimes hear it when they speak, as they swap between referring to themselves with singular and plural pronouns.” 

 Yeah, Raphael noticed that too, but he never really thought about it as a gender thing. 

 “We’re getting off topic anyway. If this is something you want to look into, there’s plenty of labels that deal with relating to more than one gender. Genderfluid and Bigender are my initial thoughts, but it could be something else.” Then he shrugged. “Or, perhaps no label fits. What’s more important is making sure you’re happy with how you present yourself and how others refer to you.”

 Up came the notepad again. “Did you dislike the make-up Casey put on because of how it looked on you? Or did it just take you off guard?”

 Raphael tried to think about it again, because in his panic he didn’t look at the mirror for very long. “I don’t think I hated it. It was just… that same feeling hit me. Like a bunch of tension being released and you can finally relax. I didn’t know what to do with it.” 

 Donnie tapped his chin with his pen. “And you haven’t tried any of this stuff before?”

 “I don’t think so.” Raphael racked his brain trying to dredge up anything from their childhood, but there was nothing. His whole life he’d been the tough guy, a role he happily grew into considering the kinds of people he looked up to. And since none of his siblings had much interest in feminine things, aside from nail polish and a bit of jewelry, they hadn’t been given a lot of opportunity. Sure April had offered to show them stuff more than once. But while Leo and Donnie were happy to go along with it, Raph just assumed he wouldn’t be interested and turned it down. 

 “Do you want to try more?”

 The question made him jump. “Wh-what? Like right now?”

 “No, no.” Donatello waved a hand. “Firstly because I don’t have the resources. And second because it may be wise to take this in steps rather than just diving in.”

 Ugh, Raphael hated taking small steps in anything. Why not just push forward and do it all at once? 

 “Obviously you can go about this however you want. But do you want us to try using other terms or pronouns for you?” Donnie paused for a second. “Do you… even want to talk to the others about this?”

 For whatever reason, that thought spooked him. He wanted to snap out a no until logic took hold. What would be so bad about that? As if they all hadn’t accepted Donnie’s gender announcement years ago, but that had been different, right? Donnie was agender but his choice in terms didn’t change. He just harshly corrected them more than once when they were younger that he wasn’t a boy, even if he was a brother.

 Raphael still struggled to wrap his brain all the way around that one. 

 But that was the only major experience they had with this, right? Obviously they wouldn’t disown him or anything, but how would they react if Raph threw open the door and announced he wanted to be a girl sometimes. Did he even want that?

 UGH!

 “I… I guess we can talk to the others about it.” Raphael sighed. “As long as they don’t start asking me questions like I have the answers, because I don’t.” 

 Donnie gave him a soft smile and snapped his notebook shut. “How about for tonight, you sleep on it? Tomorrow you can tell me what, if anything, you want to try out. I’ll let you tell the family on your own time, obviously.”

 “Okay.” He let out a long sigh. “Thanks, Don.”

 Donnie put the notebook down and then scooted forward. Raphael wasn’t even sure why until his brother propped himself up on his knees, and then wrapped his arms around Raph’s head. 

 “Don’t worry if it gets confusing sometimes,” Donnie whispered. “No matter what changes you make, you’ll still be Raph… Unless you decide to change your name. I guess that is a possibility. Maybe that was a terrible way of phrasing it. Let me try again.” 

 Raphael just laughed and threw his arms around Donnie, holding his brother close. “Nah, I get what you’re saying. Thanks.” 

 “Of course, and just in case you need the reminder, I love you.”

 He squeezed tighter. “Love you too, Donnie.” 

 The first person Raphael told—aside from Donnie obviously—was Cassandra.

 He had to, not just because she was his girlfriend now but she started this whole thing. If her specifically calling him feminine nicknames was setting all of this off, Raphael had to figure out why. 

 Though he had no idea how she’d take it. He believed well enough, because a number of the brownie scouts were some varying degree of trans. He didn’t know the fine details, he knew how to mind his own business, but he’d heard Cassandra discuss it from time to time. Trans girls only allowed to be themselves during scout periods, trans guys who were originally scared they’d be kicked out of the program after they came out, and some non-binary kids as well who kept trying out different pronouns.

 Cassandra only had so much understanding of it, but it was obvious she tried. 

 So Raphael steeled himself and told her as much as he knew. Which basically amounted to, “I don’t think I’m entirely a guy.” 

 Cassandra stared at him for a while after he said that. The two stood on a rooftop, originally planning to head out and search for some crime, but that may not be happening now. 

 She lifted up her mask, her expression not angry or disgusted, just very bewildered. “What do you mean ‘entirely a guy?’”

 “I don’t know.” Raphael whined. “I… like when you call me ‘babygirl.’ And wearing make-up. But I’m also still fine with my siblings calling me their brother? And dad calling me his son? I don’t know.” He clutched the sides of his head. “I’m trying to figure it out.” 

 She narrowed her eyes and then suddenly jumped toward him. Raphael let her, because it became very routine for her to cling to his face while supporting her weight with her feet against his plastron. 

 Her face was so close to his, as if her eyes were trying to see through a pinhole in his own. “So would you like it if I called you my girlfriend?”

 Once again his heart beat so hard in his chest he swore it would simply burst free. Heat rushed to his cheeks as the word began to spin around in a rapid loop in his brain. 

 Girlfriend? Could he even be a girlfriend? Wouldn’t he have to change so many things for that to even be possible?

 Cassandra gently shook his head. “Is that a yes?”

 Right, she asked a question. “Um… I think I would. But do I really fit the criteria?” 

 “There’s no criteria. If you want to be a girl then be a girl.”

 “But I don’t know that I do?”

 “But you like being called my girlfriend.”

 Raphael nodded. 

 “Do you want me to try using she and her pronouns for you then?”

 “I guess trying it wouldn’t hurt.” He mumbled. “Donnie did mention that as something to experiment with.” 

 “Excellent.” Her hands practically crushed his cheeks as she kissed him on the nose and then jumped off. “Now, are we ready to seek out trouble?”

 Raphael couldn’t help but crack a smile, honestly grateful for her determination to stay focused on the task at hand. “Yeah, let’s go.” 

 With Cassandra planning to call him her girlfriend for the time being, Raphael then figured he should tell the rest of his family before they discovered it another way.

 He told Mikey over breakfast, upon which the box turtle cheered and asked a few questions that Raph still didn’t have the answers to.

 He told Leo before training, and after confirming which pronouns Raph preferred—he just wanted to experiment with he and she right now—Leo then swiftly changed the subject to, “This won’t change how easily I kick your ass today.” 

 He told his father before they went on a grocery run, and like the others Splinter had some questions, and even politely tried using the term ‘daughter’ just to see how Raph felt about it.

 Raphael wasn’t too sure about that one. 

 He told April—and also Sunita—over the phone. He could hear both girls cheering on the other end and even asked if he wanted to join them for a future Girls’ Night.

 For whatever reason, that also made his heart race. 

 Casey was a bit harder to get a hold of—the kid was never great about answering his phone—but his reaction was a little strange. 

 “Oh you… really?” Casey said. 

 “Is that bad?” Raphael had to ask.

 “No, no, of course not. I’m trans too, remember?”

 Oh, right, Raphael did forget that pretty much all the time. 

 “I just… look I plan to help Reece study this weekend but I’ll try to swing by on Monday. I think there’s maybe some things I should tell you about.”

 Raphael squinted. “Is this more alternate future stuff?”

 Casey laughed. “Yeah, but it’s nothing bad I promise. Just wait until Monday.”

 He hated that, but he agreed to wait.

 In the meantime he informed the final important party, Draxum. 

 “Truthfully, I was a bit surprised when all of you turned out to be boys somehow.” The yōkai practically talked to himself as he reorganized the books on his shelf during this conversation.

 Raphael frowned. “What does that mean?” 

 “Admittedly, Leonardo and Donatello were female turtles, biologically at least.” Draxum shrugged. “But I knew going in that adding human DNA to the mix would cause a lot of that to change, given how humans and reptiles define biological sex based on different chromosomes.”

 Raphael already felt his head starting to hurt. “Guess that explains all the weird biology stuff Donnie started writing up for us when he was around thirteen.”

 The alchemist frowned. “What?”

 “Uh, not going to get into details.” Mostly because Raph absolutely didn’t want to discuss that at length with his sort-of father. “But like, there was a point at fourteen I kept getting cramps and mood swings once a month. Turns out I have a non-functioning uterus that was still giving me period symptoms.”

 Draxum stared at him for the longest time. “What’s a period?”

 “I’m not answering that! Go read a human biology book!” 

 He snorted and stuck his nose in the air. “Anyway, my point was I was a bit surprised to find out you all designated yourself as boys. Though Donatello has clarified to me once that’s not exactly the case with him.” 

 “Yeah, he uses masculine pronouns and titles but doesn’t exactly identify with them?” Raphael stared into the mug of tea he was holding. “I don’t entirely get it but… I decided I don’t really have to.” Then he sighed, leaning forward as he did like he might fall over. “But I want to understand what’s going on with me!” 

 “Even yōkai know that gender is an extremely nebulous thing, Raphael. It may take time to sort through your feelings on the matter. It took me time as well.”

 That made him sit up in an instant. “Huh? Wait, are you trans?”

 Draxum’s ear flicked. “That’s not really a term that yōkai use, but I do identify as a different gender than was originally assigned to me, yes.” He crinkled his nose. “It’s why I miss my horn helmet at times.”

 Oh. Oh. That was a gender thing? Raphael hadn’t even considered it. Was there stuff like that for snapping turtles too? Maybe he should look it up. Wait, did he even want to transition like that? 

 UGH! 

 He hoped Casey could share more light on the situation. After all, if his future self—or alternate future self—also went through something like this then Casey might have some advice.

 But didn’t Casey say he barely knew Raph in his time? Maybe that changed when he started contacting his ancestors. 

 “So, what did you wanna talk about?” Raphael finally asked when they had a moment alone. Which involved them going topside because Comet absolutely refused to quit clinging to Casey whenever he was in the lair. 

 Casey’s hands were shoved into his jacket pockets. He’d kind of grown up even more during the months he’d been out of state with his boyfriend. Man, how long had it even been now? Over half a year at least. The stubble on his chin was definitely thicker and his hair had gotten longer. 

 “Uh, well it’s like… I kind of know what your deal is? Because my dad has the same thing?”

 Raphael’s eyes went wide. “Your dad? Wait, when did you figure out who your dad is?”

 Casey chuckled. “Remember I asked Donnie to figure it out after that peanut butter scare?”

 Oh, right. Raphael had forgotten because even though he knew Casey was trying to figure it out, no one ever told him the results of that. Donnie refused to talk, and Casey didn’t either. Raph decided to just let it go and promptly dropped it out of his mind. 

 “That’s kinda funny though.” Raphael smirked. “That it’s so similar. And you’re able to talk to him about this? Or her? Wait, which one does he prefer?”

 Casey laughed. “He’s fine with being called my dad or my mom. Sometimes Dad is just easier since I have another mom.”

 “Still, what are the odds of it being the same? How’s he even on your list of ancestors? Cause of Casey?”

 Junior just fixed him with a stare and a faint smile. Raphael studied his expression, waiting and waiting for a response to the question.

 Then realization crawled up his shoulders like slow moving lava.

 “Wait!” He shouted and jumped back while pointing to himself. “Wait. Wait wait. You’re not saying that—”

 Casey glanced to the side, still smiling. “Yeah. I didn’t really wanna say anything for a while but since you and Senior are dating now… I guess it’s fine?”

 Raphael’s brain scrambled to catch up, but kept tripping over both feet. “Wh—But—! How does that even work? I can’t—”

 Casey cringed. “I can answer that, I asked my Uncle Donnie about it, but—”

 “Why does he know!”

 The kid waved his arms. “Okay, let’s just calm down for a second.”

 Right, right, why was Raphael even freaking out about this anyway? It’s not like Casey was actually his kid. Just the kid of some other version of him and—oh that’s why Comet insisted Casey was their older brother now. Of course they’d known about this the whole time. And so did Donnie? How the hell did the softshell never crack on that? 

 But still, he couldn’t help but ask, “Cass and I really had a kid? During an apocalypse?”

 Casey sighed with a fond smile on his face. “Yeah, I asked my dad that one too but he just insists he wouldn’t have a way of explaining it to me.”

 Raphael found his cheeks warming up. He and Cassandra still wound up being a thing in those conditions? Or maybe it was because of those conditions. 

 But that wasn’t really what they came up here to discuss. Even if Casey wanted to use it as a reason to get that secret off his chest. “So do you know… how your dad identifies himself?”

 “Uh, only kinda sorta.” Casey shrugged and grinned. “Sorry, it’s not like I exactly live in his head. But I know my mom always uses feminine terms for her, while my uncles use masculine ones. In my case though, he seems fine with either.” 

 Raphael nodded. Maybe it was a situation of being both at the same time, and just letting the people around him add their own perceptions. But that still didn’t entirely make sense because he wasn’t sure about “daughter” and he didn’t like “sister” when Mikey tried it.

 More experimentation was in order.

 Which Donatello was more than eager to get to. 

 “So based on what you’ve told me, I have a theory.” Donnie held up a finger as he paced back and forth in his home lab with a projector on to boot.

 Raphael felt a bit silly with all this, but he let it happen anyway. “And that is?”

 “Mirror gendering!” Donatello tapped a button and the slide shifted to show the words surrounded by silly mirror PNGs. “There’s a few official gender terms for this I’ve found, and not a quite agreed on flag.”

 “Not going to lie, that sounds a little bit silly.”

 “Perhaps, but hear me out.” Donatello held out his hands before hitting the button again. The next slide had an array of photos, mostly Raph, but also with Cassandra, his brothers, his dad, and then April. A female symbol sat between him and Casey, but then a male symbols sat between him, his brothers, and his father, while April just had a question mark. 

 “When you’re with Cassandra you observe that you prefer feminine terms and pronouns. While with us you prefer masculine ones.” Donnie pointed at April’s photo. “I want to try an experiment with April specifically. If you prefer feminine terms with her, maybe you like having your gender match that of the people around you?”

 “I guess?” Raphael tilted his head. “I mean, that makes sense but I don’t seem to care either way with Comet?”

 “Because they’re non-binary perhaps?” 

 Raphael just shrugged. “If you wanna test that though, April did invite me to join in on a Girls’ Night sometime.”

 Donnie beamed, his grin impossibly wide and his eyes practically sparkling as he lunged over and grabbed Raph’s shoulders.

 “Girls’ Night!” 

 And that’s how Raphael found himself surrounded by April, Sunita, Cassandra and Holly Blue as they left Donnie’s lab and stepped into the Hidden City. 

 “This is gonna be so fun, Raph.” April shook his arm as she held onto it. “Where do you wanna go first?”

 Raphael couldn’t even begin to put that together, because truthfully he still felt overwhelmed with everything they threw at him. A spa trip? Clothes shopping? A makeover? A manicure? Would he even enjoy any of that stuff?

 He was starting to feel sick. 

 “How about we calm down a bit?” Holly Blue—Donnie’s business partner and a family friend—patted April on the head. “Raphael, may I recommend we look at some clothes first?”

 He couldn’t help but frown. “Why?”

 The wasp buzzed her wings. “Because, you’ll be able to pick out something at your own discretion. Even if you decide against something more feminine.”

 Oh, yeah, that did make some sense. But just how was that going to work? The only time Raphael had been able to wear anything that wasn’t an oversized hoodie and shorts was when Hypno trapped them in that massive illusion.

 He really missed being able to wear some of those clothes. His size and his shell made it almost impossible to find anything.

 But this was the Hidden City. They must be able to make clothes for all kinds of creatures, right?

 They walked along the street, Holly Blue leading the way to the clothing store. The girls chattered among themselves, and Raphael couldn’t bring himself to participate, Cassandra climbed up his back and sat on his shoulders. She rested her arms on the top of his head, and the added weight made him feel just a bit safer. 

 She had to climb down when they reached their destination, however, mostly due to the height of the door. Holly Blue had to duck just a bit to step inside. 

 A beautiful place, Raphael had never seen it before. The counter space was painted with bright colors and every inch of the wall was decorated with tapestries, quilts, and other knitted projects. He found his gaze lingering on all the textile projects, stunned by the variety. 

 April and Sunita didn’t hesitate to rush toward the racks of clothing while Holly Blue called out, “Efri?” 

 A moment later someone stepped out of the back room. He was shorter than Raph, but still rather imposing with how he carried himself. Between how his long white hair was done up in a high ponytail without a strand out of place and the utterly gorgeous pattern on his kimono. 

 Humanoid in shape, but that was it. His skin was pitch black, decorated with minty green patterns that matched the color of his four eyes. Two small horns rose from the top of his head. And as he unfolded his hands, he revealed he had two arms, both in one sleeve. 

 “Hello, Holly Blue.” Efri smiled and gave a short bow. “I didn’t know you’d be coming by.”

 “Sorry, it is a bit short notice. We don’t need anything custom at least.” Holly Blue stepped over and put a hand on Raph’s shoulder. “But we’d like to find something for Raphael here. Do you think you could get her measurements and adjust something?”

 “I can manage that. I don’t have any pressing deadlines.” Efri’s hand went back into his sleeve and pulled out a roll of measuring tape. “If I may?” 

 Raphael wasn’t sure what to do at first until Cassandra nudged one of his arms up into the air.

 Right. 

 Efri rapidly took his measurements. One pair of arms held the tape while the other pair took notes. With it done he flipped the page in the little notebook. 

 “Did anyone else need measurements?”

 “Could I get some?” Sunita raised her hand from behind one wall of clothing. 

 “Certainly.” Efri headed in her direction.

 Raphael still didn’t know what to do, and once again his girlfriend directed him by tugging him toward one line of clothes. 

 “You know me.” Cassandra huffed. “I usually don’t like to wear dresses, they aren’t built well. But…” She glanced up at him, the faintest blush on her cheeks. “They might suit you. So let’s find a good one to try.” 

 Raphael nodded.

 No real harm in trying it, right?

 Raphael went through outfit by outfit while his girlfriend did the same. Occasionally Casey would size up a jacket or a button up against her own chest, eventually draping a red one over her arm as she kept going. 

 There didn’t seem to be a logical sorting to the clothes. Obviously size arrangements must not matter, but it wasn’t even separated by pants or skirts or anything.

 Raphael did try pulling out a pretty nice looking leather vest, but something in his brain said it wouldn’t suit him.

 He passed it to Cassandra.

 “We’re supposed to be looking for you.” She scolded.

 “And yet you’re the one making a pile of clothes.” He glanced at another jacket and a pair of slacks she’d also acquired.

 She huffed. “I’m just not seeing anything that I think works for you.”

 Probably because almost nothing would work for him. Even if Efri could size it however Raph needed, that didn’t mean it would look good with how he was built.

 Even before all this gender nonsense he always envied that his brothers could get away with clothes more easily. Donnie the most out of all of them with his flat shell. 

 Which is probably what made all of this so hard. He never had the chance to express himself outside of his elbow covers and the shape of his mask tails. 

 Pink flooded his peripheral vision. Raphael looked toward it, seeing a pink dress being shoved toward his face by Cassandra.

 “Huh?” He squeaked. 

 “What about this one?” She waved it a few times. “It’s got enough red to it, I think.”

 True, it did. It was a deep pink, a bit on the reddish side, but not in a way that made it hard to look at. Raphael took it in his hands, feeling the soft material it was made of. It honestly looked pretty cute, between the puff in the sleeves and the lace around the base of them and the dress itself. Nothing crazier than that, not even a seam underneath the bust. Maybe yōkai kept them open. 

 Still, he frowned. “I dunno. There’s no way this would fit me well with my shell.”

 “That’s what the seamster is for.” Cassandra snatched the dress back. “At least try it on.”

 “I… okay.” He simply agreed, because he didn’t have it in him to argue. 

 After about ten more minutes of searching, Raphael still only found a pale pair of jeans that he liked the look of. Cassandra took them and the dress, then shoved him toward Efri. 

 The oni’s ear flicked before he glanced over at them. “Hm? Find something you like?”

 Cassandra, in spite of her pushiness, did not speak.

 Which left it to Raph. “Um, yeah. Something to start with at least.” 

 “Very good.” He stood and held out his hands. “I’ll resize them and then let you use the changing room.” 

 Raphael handed them over, and only a few minutes later, Efri returned with the garments folded neatly. 

 The snapper took them, but then stared, because while he could probably manage pants—they weren’t that different from shorts right?—he didn’t know where to start with putting a dress on. 

 “Do you want some help with that, dear?” Holly Blue stepped over, a dress hanging over one arm. 

 Raphael jumped. “Huh? Wh-what are you starting to read minds or something?”
 
 She chuckled. “No, I am making an assumption. Dresses can be tricky, especially for folks like us who can’t have it on our backs. Don’t worry, Efri keeps that in mind too.” She gestured for him to follow. “Come on, I’ll show you how it works.” 

 He gave his girlfriend a nervous glance, but she just pushed him onward, so he followed the wasp to the dressing room.

 Which was very roomy. He didn’t know entirely what to expect. He’d only been inside a dressing room once before when he and his brothers broke into the mall to do some exploring and those were so cramped he barely fit in one.

 But both he and Holly Blue had plenty of walking space. A rug was splayed out on the floor. A handful of chairs of various sizes were in the corner. And against one wall was not one but three full body mirrors so you could see yourself at various angles. 

 Holly Blue eagerly took the dress out of his hands—which was definitely a lot bigger now—and instructed him to take off his equipment.

 Which, why was he still wearing that? It’s not like they came down here to train or fight crime. Force of habit these days. 

 With everything but his mask off, Holly Blue helped him put the dress on, stepping into it and pulling the sleeves over his arms. He hadn’t looked at the mirror once, and he found himself squeezing his eyes shut as she attached the back of the dress just under the sides of his shell, and just how did it do that? He didn’t ask for the time being. 

 Holly Blue let go of him and chuckled. Her hands were gentle on his shoulder as she turned him to face another direction. “Relax, dear. Just open your eyes and if you don’t like it we’ll try something else.” 

 Right, of course, but for a moment he felt utterly paralyzed. What if he opened his eyes and hated his reflection?

 Or even scarier, what if it just made him realize something else about himself.

 But Raphael adamantly refused to be a coward. He clenched his fists and opened his eyes as if he were about to charge at an enemy.

 The image immediately took him off guard. The glare on his face vanished as he straightened up and stared.

 Was that really him?

 Or maybe…

 Was that really her? 

 Raphael stepped up to the mirror, stunned by how nice it actually looked. He expected a disaster and a mess, but the sleeves were cute. The fact that the dress didn’t go over the shoulders meant it didn’t get caught on the spikes from his plastron, which the dress fit around perfectly. Did Efri add the sash that went around his stomach? 

 It didn’t hang too long either, stopping just above his toes.

 Raphael found himself turning, then turning even faster, he gasped when the skirt fanned out. 

 Holly Blue laughed. “Yes, that really is the best part of dresses sometimes.” 

 He held onto the skirt, just lifting it a bit and lowering it back down. He tried holding his hands out as if he were about to curtsy. 

 He—

 No. That stopped sounding right in her head.

 She beamed at her reflection.

 “Want to try something else?” Holly Blue reached into her hand bag and pulled out a palette of eyeshadow, waving it. 

 Raphael raised a brow. “Just how much did Donnie tell you?” 

 Holly Blue wiggled her antenna. “Only so much, I just thought it’d be fun to offer it.” 

 She glanced back at her reflection and then gave Holly Blue a nod. She liked it before, so why not?

 It took longer than Raphael would have liked. She did her best to sit still in a chair while the wasp worked. Even with a mask on, the brushes and pen tickled. The snapper crinkled her nose more than once. 

 “Hm…” Holly Blue hummed. “One more thing, wait right here and don’t move.”

 She almost didn’t agree to that, fiddling with her own fingers and keeping her eyes shut slowly began to feel like torture.

 “Here.” The wasp announced when she returned. Raphael knew she stood close, close enough that the collar of her dress brushed against the snapper’s nose as Holly attached something to the knot of his bandanna. “Perfect, how’s that?” 

 Once again Raphael looked at the mirror, and this time she really didn’t recognize herself. If it weren’t for the iconic red of her bandanna she’d have trouble believing it wasn’t fake. 

 Holly Blue drew on some eye liner, the wings of them extending outward with a few more lines below like feathers. The pink eyeshadow helped match with the dress, and the iridescence of it shone under the light. 

 Harder to see what was on her bandanna, but turning allowed her a glimpse of a pink petal flower. 

 “Huh…” Raphael put her hands on her cheeks. “Raph really looks like a girl.”

 Holly Blue stepped over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Perhaps. The big question is, does Raph look like Raph?”

 It felt like such an odd question to answer. As if she didn’t look like Raphael before in her combat gear, or in the disguise she wore to fight crime, or when wearing that bulky white hoodie his brothers searched every shop to find for him. 

 She tried to think on it, about the various facets of her identity and how they all fit together, but giddiness eventually overrode it. 

 Pretty. She actually looked pretty. 

 Raphael found herself sprinting for the curtain and back out into the shop. “Cass, come look!” 

 She didn’t expect all the girls to be standing right there, waiting. Sunita and April both gasped, their grins growing wider and wider. Cassandra, on the other hand, just stared in dumb shock, though her cheeks were steadily matching the color of the dress.

 “Raph, you look incredible.” April threw open her arms. “I’m so jealous, you look even better in frills than I do.” 

 “Aw, don’t say that.” Sunita held up the emerald green from a wooden basket that sat between them. “I bet this is gonna look amazing.” 

 Raphael redirected her attention to her girlfriend who was still standing there, silent.

 The unease returned to the snapper’s scales. “Um… does it look bad?”

 Cassandra blinked and snapped her jaw shut. She appeared to be glaring as she dropped her clothes on the ground and grabbed Raph’s wrist. 

 “No!” She shouted with so much aggression. “You look absolutely incredible!” Her blush deepened, despite how utterly pissed off she looked.

 But Raphael knew better. Her girlfriend just couldn’t give a compliment normally.

 So she chuckled. “Good to know.”

 “I’m serious.” She insisted. 

 “I know, Cass.” Raphael put her free hand on Casey’s head and shoved her down. “I’m used to how you give compliments.” 

 Cassandra flailed her arms and tugged out of Raph’s grip. “I am just saying what I am thinking.”

 April snorted. “Yeah, while you look at someone like they just spat in your cereal.” 

 “It’s just my face!” 

 They all laughed and went back to trying things on. Cassandra wound up finding a lot more dresses for Raph to try, but in the end she decided she liked the first one the most. That along with those jeans and a ragged sleeveless shirt. Somehow even with the make-up on it still looked nice.

 Nice enough to make Casey shout across the store that she wanted to kiss Raph so badly right now. 

 Raphael wound up covering her face from that one. 

 She wore wearing the pink dress for the rest of the night, and even wore it home. Her nerves were on fire as she entered the lair through Donnie’s portal door. Just what were her brothers going to say? Maybe she should have accepted April’s offer for them all to come in with her, but she felt like she should try this on her own. 

 The first one to find her was Comet, of course. Raph’s kid came bounding toward her, little balls of green light trailing behind. They came to a stop right at her feet, looking at the dress and then meeting her gaze.

 Comet’s greens grew even brighter. “Mom!” 

 Raphael’s heart jumped and she scooped Comet off the floor, spinning them around. Once again her skirt twirled, and that combined with a swirl of green light made her feel like she was flying. 

 “You weren’t too bored without me, right?” Raphael tucked them onto her shoulder.

 Comet hugged her face. “No. Grandpa showed me more movies.”

 Raphael raised a brow. “None of my brothers hung out with you?”

 “Asked to see movies. Like how Grandpa feels when he explains.”

 That made a bit more sense. Comet rarely showed a lot of interest in film, but they did love watching people watch movies. 

 But thinking of her father made her pause before she reached any of the rooms. Should she show him first? But Mikey would probably be the chillest about it. Or Donnie. 

 The decision was made for her, because the second she walked into the kitchen to grab one more snack for the night, Leo was already in there. The slider sipped away at a small cup of tea while reading something on his tablet. The second he looked up, whatever had been in his mouth was promptly spat across the room.

 Raphael froze, every limb going stiff. 

 “Whoa, Raph?” Leo put his tablet and his cup on the counter as he grinned. “You look incredible.”

 “Oh, do I?” She couldn’t help but tap her fingers together. “You uh, looked kinda shocked there.”

 “I mean, yeah. Was not expecting to see you home this early, much less this glammed up.” Leo stared up at her face. “I think the make-up suits you even better than Donnie.” 

 “Scoff. As if.” 

 Raphael turned to watch Donnie step inside. Comet giggled on Raph’s shoulder. 

 “Wow, rude, Donnie.” Leo crossed his arms. “Ego so bloated you want to call our sister ugly?”

 “I didn’t say that.” Donnie barked. “It’s not a contest anyway.”

 “Says the guy immediately jumping to his defense when I call Raph prettier.”

 The softshell growled while the slider kept on chuckling.

 Raphael just stood there, letting the words stir in his head for a second. “No,” she added. “Still feels weird if you call me sis. Even when I’m dressed up.”

 Leo’s smile faltered but swiftly returned. “No problem, bro.”

 Raphael let that settle for a moment too. Even with his current outfit, just being around his siblings made him feel a lot more comfortable with his masculine terms. But the dress didn’t begin to feel weird in the slightest. Wearing it still felt like the most normal thing in the world. 

 “Make-up contest aside.” Donnie waved a hand. “How was the evening? Did you discover anything new? I do love this dress on you by the way. Did you pick it out?”

 “Casey did.” Raphael couldn’t stop the smile that formed on his face. 

 Leo nodded. “She’s got a better eye than I thought. Someone tell Mikey to get in here and check this out.”

 “Already called.” Comet reported before they jumped down and shuffled over to the compost bin. “And Grandpa.” 

 Donnie cleared his throat and Raphael realized he was still waiting for an answer. “Oh, um, evening was fun. We picked out some other clothes too but the rest of the girls still have them. It’s still a bit weird though, I guess.” He returned to tapping his fingers. “I like being a girl around them, but I like being a guy around you guys, and it keeps feeling like I should just settle on one.” 

 “Nonsense.” Donnie held up a finger. “There’s no reason you can’t be both.”

 “Raph!” Mikey’s shout came from the doorway. The box turtle hovered there, Splinter on his back, both of them staring with wide eyes.

 Then Mikey threw up his hands, almost knocking their father off. “You look gorgeous!” Then he shot over for a hug.

 Raphael laughed and hugged him back. “Thanks, little bro.” 

 Almost a month later, and Raphael still barely had an answer for what was going on with her.

 But she also felt more and more like she didn’t really need one. 

 She kept trying new things and even hanging out with some other crowds. Donnie convinced her to try spending some time with Jason’s father and his friends, that maybe they could provide some insight to the whole deal. 

 And while some of the language being tossed around made her head spin, one of the friends—named Amber—probably gave her some of the best insight. 

 “See, this is why I personally just call myself genderqueer.” They announced while tossing out cards from a deck of pride flags—they had cards for these things? 

 Raphael blinked, staring at the dozens of colors. “What does that mean?”

 “Whatever you want.” They snapped their fingers and smiled. “That’s the beauty of it. Some people are comfier with more specific labels, but I’m happy to just say ‘my gender is not binary and that’s all you need to know.’ You know?” 

 “So wouldn’t non-binary work?”

 “Sure, but also just like the feeling of genderqueer. It’s queer. It’s weird. It’s hard to define. And that’s fine.”

 Raphael didn’t get it at the time, but after mulling it over for a week and feeling dizzy over the pages and pages of various labels, it’s ultimately what she settled on. 

 He still couldn’t put together why he felt more masculine in some scenarios and more feminine in others. He couldn’t figure out why he liked being called “girlfriend” but not “sister.” Nor did he know why both “Mom” and “Dad” were fine when coming from his kid. The more he tried things the more it felt like his gender would just shift like the skin of a chameleon. Though it was far less out of a necessity and more just what felt more comfortable. Like tossing on a blanket during a chilly morning and then shedding it as it warmed up. 

 And it’s not like her indecisiveness caused any problems. Her family did well with testing terms and pronouns before finally sticking to the ones Raph decided worked best. Sometimes she’d sit in the same room with Cassandra and her siblings. Casey would call her “girlfriend” and her siblings would call her “brother” and they both sounded right at the same time. Splinter still called him “son,” but the occasional “daughter” didn’t feel too bad either. 

 Maybe Raph was just weird.

 She kinda liked it that way. 

 Cassandra’s fingers tapped against her skull, snapping her out of her thoughts. 

 “What’s on your mind, babygirl?” She still used the nickname when they were alone. 

 Raphael stared at the TV that was now on a blank screen. The movie must have ended, oops. “Just the usual,” she sighed. “I’m probably doing too much of that lately.” 

 Cassandra’s arms rested against her head, still perched on her shell. “I think you’re allowed to overthink it.” 

 “I guess, but I think I’d rather just… be. You know?” Raphael tried to look up at her. “Are you relieved, by the way? That you’re still a lesbian?”

 Cassandra snorted. “I told you when we started this that I refused to keep worrying about it, because I like you.” She paused for a moment. “But it is kind of funny to think that maybe I knew before you did.”

 Raphael chuckled. “Yeah, though I’d love to know how.”

 “It’s my new mystic power, obviously.”

 “Hm, wonder if the rest of our ancestors had the super power to detect someone’s gender. You should try using it on Mikey.” 

 “You think something’s up with him?”

 Raphael shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe it doesn’t matter.”

 Cassandra’s arms wrapped around her neck before she simply spun around and landed in Raph’s lap. “Did you know some of the scouts are already having contests about which of them get to be my bridesmaids?”

 Raphael gave a nervous laugh. “We definitely have not been together long enough for that.”

 “No, but I told them we’d host an official tournament whenever that happened.”

 That got her to laugh much louder, because she could easily imagine it. “Would you even want to get married?”

 “What?” Casey crossed her arms. “Don’t think I’m the type?” 

 “Just asking.”

 “Perhaps. As you said, it is too soon to think about that.” Her hand shot out, finger pressing against Raph’s snout. “But I don’t plan to give this up easily. Do you?”

 “Nah.” Raphael moved her hand so she could curl over her and press their noses together. 

 And yeah, it was too soon to think about it, but Raphael still imagined Cassandra calling her “wife.” 

 And her heart jumped.