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The wire of the metal fence stings his pale green skin. The cold seeps through his wrapped hands as he jumps over, the autumn breeze ruffling his hoodie. It doesn’t pierce his scales, though. His rage keeps him warm as he walks through the skate park after hours, huffily throwing down his skateboard as soon as he’s a good ways inside.
Clack!
On cue, a shaggy mop of black hair pops up from the rink. A dark gray hoodie with a red flannel and black jeans skates over, circling around him with a lopsided smirk. Casey Jones stops right in front of him, eyeing his skateboard curiously.
“What’s got your mask in a twist this time?” the boy asks, somewhat teasing and somewhat genuine.
Raph scowls at the reminder of his anger, a sight he’s thankful Casey seems to be used to. It was weird, finally having a close friend that didn’t consist of any of his brothers, but he’s happy to get used to it. Casey Jones just gets him in ways the others don’t.
Anger issues? Check! Love for fighting? Dude’s got a crazy reputation for picking fights. Likes skating? He’s at the rink, ain’t he? Brave? Well, they’re at the rink after hours and at risk of getting caught. Plus, to top everything off, they somehow have a majority of their classes together.
Sneaking around and hanging out is fun with Casey. And then Leonardo had to say something.
“Leo’s jealous that I have a friend,” Raph snarls, throwing his mask tails over his shoulder and picking up his board again.
With it getting colder, he’s found himself wearing his mask more and more again. The teachers love to complain about it but they aren’t bald and they don’t know how horrible it is to feel the AC drag its icy nails down his head, so… he wears it anyways.
Casey blinks at that, shoving his hands in his pockets. He follows Raph to an edge of a ramp, squinting down at the bottom. “What, like me?” He points to himself before pointing to Raph. “And you?”
“Exactly!” Raph exclaims throwing a hand up. “He said you’re a bad influence! He said you make bad decisions and that you’ll drag me into them too!” he explains, starting to pace at the top of the ramp.
Which is ridiculous. Leo is being ridiculous. Casey ain't a bad guy at all! He’s one of the only nice hockey players at school and genuinely cares for Raph. The amount of times he’s caught the lanky boy yelling at some football player for how they talked about Raph is literally too many to count. He’s protective and loyal to a fault, something Raph can totally relate to.
That doesn’t make him a bad guy. So why does it make Casey one?
“Well,” Casey starts, nudging his shoulder. “I am still trying to convince you to get a stick and poke. Maybe I am a bad influence!”
Raph snorts and pushes him away. “Yeah, sure. Go and prove Leo’s point, ya?” It’s a joke, but it falls flat if he judges the way silence envelops them. He shifts. “He says you’re too chaotic,” he mumbles. “How is that a bad thing?”
Casey shrugs beside him, swinging his arms idly as he looks up at the sky. “Peace brings chaos, and chaos brings peace. They coexist.”
That doesn’t answer his question at all. Raph narrows his eyes at his friend and decides to keep his glare even as Casey rolls his shoulders forward and looks towards him.
“It sounds like your brother is more the peaceful type. You’re a chaotic type. I’m a chaos gremlin and that’s why we get along while you and Leo don’t ,” he reasons, pulling the top of his hair back.
Raph hums as Casey finishes tying off his half up do, idly thinking about how Leo would lose his shell if he found out they were skating without a helmet. “I guess so,” he allows, finally putting his skateboard down and placing his foot on it, slowly rolling it back and forth.
Casey scoffs and puts his hand flat on his chest. “Man, I know so. Besides, it’s not like Leo is wrong.”
Raph whips his head around at that, eyes bulging. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he demands, grabbing one Casey’s shoulders before the boy can skate off — a horrible habit his friend seems to be eager to keep.
Casey smiles at him, grinning from ear to ear. “I am a piss poor friend, remember?” He taps his head with his free arm. “Think about who’s idea it was to hang out here, of all places. Breaking and entering is illegal, Raph!”
Raph’s grip grows tighter. “You’re a great friend!” growls, angry for a whole other reason now.
He wishes he could say this was the first time he heard this. It’s not. Casey’s called himself a “bad guy” and a “bad friend” and a “dirty no good-er” many times. Each time, Raph has argued vehemently against it. Each time, Casey laughed it off as a joke.
As he does now.
He laughs and tugs his arms free, spinning on his heel as he goes backwards down the ramp. Raph squawks in outrage as his friend tries to escape this conversation again . He pushes off with his left foot, skating down the ramp to chase Casey around the park.
“You’re not a bad friend!” Raph shouts every time they zoom past each other.
“You’ll eat your words soon enough!” Casey yells back, an unnerving amount of certainty and humor in his tone. “You’ll wish you had never met me!”
He’s lucky to be close enough to tackle him for that one. Casey laughs as they wrestle, Raph obviously ending up on top and pinning him down.
“Wrong,” he heaves, out of breath thanks to the cool air of the beginning of November. “You get me like no other.”
Casey snorts and pushes him off, sitting up straight. He nudges Raph’s shoulder with a “Same,”.
Raph grumbles and flops onto the back of his shell, wincing at the small sting it sends down his spine. Observant as always, Casey notices.
“Is that still fragile?” he asks, pointing to the ever healing crack in the back of Raph’s shell.
“Not fragile,” Raph retorts, crossing his arms across his plastron. No way is his shell fragile , of all things. “It’s still healing.”
The boy next to him hums, turning to scan the rooftops. “And those Feet ninjas? Super Spikey?”
Raph rolls his eyes, annoyed at Casey’s inability to ever get his foes’ names right. “The Foot and Shredder are not a problem.”
“That scar on your leg says differently,” Casey argues lightly with a small smile, kicking Raph’s left shin.
Unable to find an argument for that , Raph just mocks Casey under his breath. Unfortunately, he has a point. Shredder and his goons are starting to be a big problem — a problem in the way Superfly never was. Superfly was a few fights and boom! New York saved! But the more fights they get into with this Shredder guy, the more Raph thinks that it’ll be a problem for a good while.
They fall silent, sitting/laying next to each other at the bottom of the skatepark. Raph turns his head to eye his skateboard, wondering what time it could be and if he needs to go home yet. Leo’s definitely going to stay up and wait for him to get back. Maybe his older brother will even want to continue their previous “conversation”!
Grumbling, Raph turns back up to look at the sky. Nah, Leo and home can wait. He’s chilling.
“I don’t think you’ll be dragged into my bad decisions.”
Raph blinks. It takes him a moment to remember what the shell Casey is talking about and, when he does, he groans and rubs a hand down his face. “You don’t—“
“I do make bad decisions,” Casey interrupts, giving him a small glare as if to say “Let me speak”. Raph clicks his mouth shut and sits up. “But you don’t… most the time. I think it’s sorta rude of Leo to not trust you like that.”
Raph shakes his head, turning more towards Casey. “What? No, Leo trusts me,” he automatically defends because uh, it’s the plain truth . His brother would die for him — for any of them. Leo trusts him to protect his shell and their brothers’ shells too.
So what’s this thing Casey is insinuating about trust? Because it ain’t flying.
Casey tilts his head at Raph. “Yeah, in life or death scenarios, sure. But he literally just told you that he doesn’t like me because he thinks you’ll join me in my bad decisions. You’re your own person. You don’t have to join me with everything I do.”
He shakes his head again, looking away from Casey. He tightens his fists and reminds himself to take a deep breath. “That’s not what I said. Leo doesn’t like you because you make bad decisions.”
Casey gets up and stretches before continuing. “…and he thinks you’ll be ‘dragged into them’,” he finger quotes, raising an eyebrow. “He doesn’t trust you, or me.”
Raph scoffs and glares. Is Casey even hearing him right now?! “That is not what I said!”
His friend shrugs. “I’m just saying…” He reaches down and holds a hand out to Raph, offering to help him up.
Raph swats it away, nose scrunching. “Yeah? Well quit saying.” He gets up and walks over to his skateboard, brushing his pants off as he does.
Casey takes things too deeply. He looks for the hidden meanings like a crazed English teacher. What do the blue curtains mean? Nothing! They’re just blue! And yet Casey would say it’s because blue is for sorrow and rain and the death to come. Sometimes, Raph is sure he’s totally emo except he doesn’t dress like it, so he guesses he isn’t. But he could be if he decided to dress the part.
Leo trusts him, he’s sure. He trusts him to make his own decisions.
He does.
Right?
“Maybe he’d think differently if he met me.”
Raph turns around, skateboard under his arm. “Huh?”
Casey sticks his hands in his pockets, shifting awkwardly. “I’m not that bad once you get to know me,” he says, shrugging. “Maybe you could introduce us.”
“How?” Raph asks, not entirely against the idea. Casey and Leo probably wouldn’t get along too well, but it’d definitely spark an improvement. But there’s one problem… “We have different lunches, no classes with the three of us together, and you have hockey after school.”
“I don’t know, dude. I’d have you over to my house but, like, my dad’s such a control freak. He’d be breathing down our necks,” Casey says, skating over and starting to slowly circle Raph again.
Which… that is an option. Not going to Casey’s house, no, but Casey coming to the sewers — Raph’s “house”. It’d be a bit crowded and maybe a bit smelly for Casey, but… if he wants Leo to stop harping on him for having a bad taste in friends then he needs them all to meet. Besides, he’s sure Mikey and Donnie would love Casey!
Raph rubs the back of his head, fighting the urge to fidget with his mask tails. It’s not like he’s ever asked a friend to come over before!
“I guess you could come over to our place,” he says as Casey flies past again. “Might be a little crowded but…”
Casey beams at him. “Sweet! That way we can convince Leo I’m not the absolute worst!”
Raph rolls his eyes, feeling a smile slowly climb back onto his face. “He didn’t say you’re the worst… just implied it.”
Casey laughs, circling around him even faster. Raph grins and lunges, grabbing him and holding him in a headlock. Casey squawks at the change, immediately squirming to try and free himself as Raph noogies him.
“C’mon, you shark! Stop circling me and let’s get to skating!”
“Only if you’re ready to lose!”
“Never!”