Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1 - New chapter, new life
The first thing that hit him was the smell. He wouldn’t say it was bad, just different. Never mind, it was bad. The trash smell was strong but not overly overpowering. He could also detect a weird smell of grease, but decided not to focus too much on it. He was mostly biased by the fact that he had lived his entire life on a hill filled with cherry-blossomed trees. The soothing smell was something that he would certainly miss. He couldn’t complain anyway; New York was very different from what he imagined. The loud streets were animated by passers-by and food stands.
“Guys, there are so many food stands, can we stop to eat? I'm dying here!” whined Mickey to his brothers, but mostly to Leo, who was the one driving the rented car. “Not now, Mickey, we need to first find our apartment,” answered Donnie. Mickey groaned but said nothing, deciding to rest his head on the window instead, admiring the new environment. Raph was still quiet. Which was very out of character, but he couldn’t blame him. Everyone was still grieving.
The death of their father was still engraved in every single one of them. Especially Raph. Leo glanced at his brother. His heart ached, but he said nothing. As the older brother, he had to take it upon himself and not show how deeply the loss of his father affected him. He had to stay strong as leader and now head of the Hamato clan.
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After twenty minutes of driving, they finally arrived at their destination. “Wow, well I’m certainly not the only one to think this place is trash,” said Mickey while looking around.
“What did you expect? It's not like we could afford living in a penthouse, dumbass,” responded Raph for the first time in several hours.
“I mean, I get it, but come on. It looks like somebody died in here,” continued Mickey.
“Is that a dead rat?” Donnie pointed in a corner.
“Well, that was an experience; I’m out,” said Mickey while raising his hands in defeat and turning to leave.
Raph extended his arm and held Mickey by his back collar to stop him from going to the front door while still looking around. He didn’t comment on the depravity of their new home, but his furrowed eyebrows told another story. Leo could always tell what his brother was thinking just by looking at his expression. He never hid his mimics and was like an open book to his brothers. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“I mean, it’s the best we could do, but I’m sure everything will be fine. It’s only temporary anyway, until we find something better,” Leo said while putting a box down. “Now, who's hungry? I saw a pizzeria passing by; how about I go check it out and bring back some food,” he continued.
“Heck yeah, I always wanted to try some of the American delicacies,” said Mickey while jumping with excitement.
“Technically, pizza comes from Italy,” responded Donnie while putting down a box of his own.
“You guys start unpacking, and I’ll come back with the pizzas,” suggested Leo while taking his car keys and already walking to the door.
“S’not like we got a lot to unpack anyway,” muttered Raph under his breath. If anyone heard him, nobody commented. The three of them started to open boxes.
Leo walked to his car and started to drive to the said pizza shop. He couldn’t help but notice a poster with a job offer on a store window. He parked his car in front of the shop and stepped in front to see better. It seemed they needed a waiter for the evening. If Leo could quote his father, he would certainly call it “destiny”. He didn’t bring his resume, but made a mental note to stop by tomorrow. He didn’t have any experience working whatsoever but prayed it wouldn’t be a problem.
His father's last wish was for his sons to go to school and have “normal” teenage lives. If it wasn’t for his dad’s will, he would have dropped out of school and found a full-time job to support his brothers. Guess a part-time job would do the work. They didn’t have a lot of money despite living a pretty decent life in Japan with their father. The little money he left them could only cover enough for the trip, school inscriptions, and their rent for the first 7 months.
Leo shook his head, trying to stop thinking about it. Adding stress to his situation wasn’t the optimal thing to do. First he needed to get food. “One problem at a time”, would say his father.
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The sound of arguing was the first thing he heard before he even stepped inside the apartment.
“But it’s not fair, why should it be you that got to have the biggest room!?” Whined Mickey.
“Cause I’m the oldest here,” replied Raph with a smug face.
“First of all, Leo’s the oldest and I think I should have the biggest room; I need the space for my equipment,” Said Donnie, not looking up from his phone.
“It’s not our fault you brought your whole computer set or whatever,” said Mickey dismissively.
“Excuse me, it's not a computer set. It’s the last update-” began Donnie, finally looking up, but was cut off before he could finish his response.
“STOP, what the hell is going on in here? I leave for 15 min, and you guys are already arguing,” reprimanded the oldest, while holding two boxes of hot pizza.
“But-” said the three of them.
“No, I don’t want to hear it. This place has only two rooms; we’re going to split up and tolerate having two of us in each room whether you like it or not,” said Leo, clearly exhausted from the stupidity of the argument.
“Well, I’m not sharing my room with Mickey; the guy stinks,” Replied Raph with a condescending tone.
“Hey, you can’t be the one talking when you snore like you swallowed a whole trumpet choir,” responded Mickey.
“I don’t snore! And I don’t want to share it with Donnie either; he talks while he sleeps,” continued Raph.
“The hell, I don’t do that,” said Donnie, offended.
“Yeah, you do,” they both said at the same time.
“Well, I don’t want to share it with either of you; how about that?” continued Donnie, joining the bickery.
“Ok, enough, you guys are giving me a headache. Raph, you'll sleep with Mickey, and Donnie, you’re with me,” said Leo, while looking up like he’s trying to seek a strength above.
“Who’s dead and made you leader” said Raph sarcastically.
They all stared at him in disbelief. Donnie gave him a slap behind his head.
“Ouch, what?!” screamed Raph
“Or we just rotate, and at the end of the week we decide who’s our optimal roommate,” proposed Donnie, returning his attention back to his phone.
“Yeah, Donnie! Great idea,” said Mickey with a grin.
“Whatever, I'm still getting the bigger room,” continued Raph with that smug smile that clearly meant that it was non-negotiable.
“Guys, the pizza is going to get cold,” Leo said, exasperated, trying to end the silly debate.
“Sweet,” said Mickey while opening the box to take a piece. He was then slapped by Raph.
“Ouch, what was that for?” Mickey asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Go wash your hands, see guys, I can’t share a room with such a stinker,” replied Raph with a disgusted look on his face.
Leo rolled his eyes, feeling his headache getting worse. He stared at his brothers who had already moved the argument from the rooms to the pizza. A small smile reached his face, happy to see his brothers' camaraderie back. He really missed that. He just wished that everything would take a better turn. It was a new chapter of their lives, and they were safe now. Nothing would happen to them anymore.