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Antonio fidgets in their place on the couch, glancing from the entrance to Leo, who's lounging on a beanbag chair and reading a comic (com·ic /ˈkämik/ noun 1. a comedian, especially a professional one- nope) and back again,
"They'll be fine, they do this all the time," Leo reassures for at least the tenth time, not looking up from his book. Mikey and Raph had left a while ago, to go 'grab a slice' (slice /slīs/ noun 1. a thin, broad piece of food, such as bread, meat, or cake, cut from a larger portion.). Antonio wasn't sure what they were getting a slice of, but they seemed excited about it. Though, it did mean they had to leave, which was what was making him nervous. What if they got lost? Or ran into trouble? What if one of the scientists-
"We're home!" Mikey sing-songs as he and Raph burst into the room, Raph carrying several boxes,
"Took you long enough," Leo says, getting up and tossing his comic into the seat,
"I'm starving." Leo tries to reach around Raph as he sets the boxes on the table, only for Raph to push him away,
"I'll go get Donald," Mikey says, and Antonio tenses. Raph had apologised for Donnie earlier, but Antonio was still wary about him. Though, they trusted Raph well enough, and Raph trusted Donnie. So he was willing to give them another chance, the turtle hadn't actually hurt him, after all,
"Here," Leo says, plopping down next to them on the couch with two pieces of… something, holding one out to Antonio and taking a bite out of the other. It must be food then.
"What is it?" Antonio asks, taking the offering,
"You don't know what pizza is?! Oh, you’re gonna love this," Leo sits up, watching him expectedly.
(piz·za /ˈpētsə/ noun a dish of Italian origin consisting of a flat, round base of dough baked with a topping of tomato sauce and cheese, typically with added meat or vegetables.)
"Oh," Antonio says, looking at the slice. He'd never had pizza before; his food choices had always been slim to non-existent. He sniffs the slice and it smells… really good actually. He takes a bite, eyes widening in delight at the flavour of the food,
"This is great," they say. Leo punches the air and returns to his slice,
"I told you so!" Antonio smiles at Leo before turning at a sound from one of the entrances, watching Mikey and Donnie reenter, Donnie wearing a purple jacket. He quickly looks away as Donnie looks at them, ducking his head to avoid any chance of eye contact. Raph makes sure each of his brothers gets some pizza before getting himself a slice and sitting down in an empty seat. Mikey sits on Antonio's other side, rambling about the trip he and Raph took to acquire the pizza, and Donnie sits in the beanbag chair Leo left empty.
Antonio coughs at an itch in their throat, trying to dislodge whatever was causing the disturbance, but it doesn't help. He takes another bite, struggling to get it down, before dropping the pizza and coughing again,
"Hey, are you okay?" Leo pats their shell. Antonio grips his throat; it feels like he can't breathe. Scratch that, he can't. He looks up at Leo, seeing his eyes widen in recognition,
"Oh sh- Raph, they're having an allergic reaction. Go get an EpiPen." Raph rushes out of the room,
"Hey Toni, look at me." Antonio brings his gaze back to Leo, "You're gonna be fine. Raph has some medicine that'll fix you right up." The striped turtle nods. Of course Raph'll fix this; he promised they'd be safe. Said turtle rushes back into the room, holding a tube-looking thing, and gives it to Leo,
"Okay, I'm going to have to stick this into your thigh," Leo says, and Antonio realises that what Leo has is a syringe.
(sy·ringe /səˈrinj,ˈsirənj/ noun a tube with a nozzle and piston or bulb for sucking in and ejecting liquid in a thin stream, used for cleaning wounds or body cavities, or fitted with a hollow needle for injecting or withdrawing fluids.)
Antonio rears back, knocking into Mikey, who's been panicking and frantically tries to catch them so they don't fall off the couch. They can't breathe, everything hurts and itches, and he has a syringe,
"Hey, it's okay, this'll make you feel better," Mikey tries, holding them as they try to squirm away from Leo. Antonio panics more as Leo grabs his leg, kicking as hard as he can,
"I swear this is necessary," Leo says, gripping his leg and holding it still. Antonio screeches as he feels the needle enter his thigh.
This wasn't supposed to happen I was supposed to be safe why is he doing this?
Antonio sobs, continuing to cry even as the needle is removed and his legs are released. Eventually, it gets easier to breathe, and Antonio sniffs as he stifles his tears,
"See? You're okay now," Mikey says, still cradling the smaller turtle,
"Leo was just trying to help," Antonio looks up, seeing Leo standing a bit away, talking to Raph and Donnie. Raph had a hand on Leo’s carapace, rubbing gentle circles, and Donnie was frantically fiddling with something on his arm. He did feel better, and Leo let him go right after. This wasn't like in the lab, when they would feed him toxic materials to see how much he could take. Nobody seemed to know this would happen; they were all eating the same thing. Why had that even happened?
"Why?" Antonio croaks, unable to finish their sentence, throat still feeling wrong. They turn to Mikey, who seemed to understand anyway,
"You had an allergic reaction to something in the pizza. Raph has a peanut allergy, so we have some EpiPens on hand," (Ep·i·Pen /ˈepēˌpen/ noun a hypodermic device that administers a dose of epinephrine, used for the emergency treatment of an acute allergic reaction.) "so Leo used one on you, and you're okay now. You do feel okay, right?" Antonio sniffs again and nods, sitting up. Leo hadn't meant to hurt them, he was helping them. He turns back to the other three turtles, now huddled around something Donnie was showing them.
Just as Antonio was thinking of getting up and seeing what they were doing, the group splits and turns to the two on the couch. Donnie is holding a sheet of paper and a pen, which Antonio finds a bit disconcerting until he hands them to him and he sees it's a list of foods.
"This is a list of everything that was on the pizza, cross off whatever you've eaten before without negative consequences," Donnie says, not looking directly at Antonio. Antonio looks at the list, grabbing the pen and reminding themself that this wasn't an experiment, they must just be trying to find out what caused the reaction.
He reads everything on the list. Some things were easy, like flour and yeast, which were in bread, or various cheeses. But other things, like oregano and basil, were harder; he had to rack his mind for times he'd listened to the scientists explain what was in his food, and he couldn't remember ever having plenty of the stuff on the list.
Rechecking to make sure he'd gotten everything, he passed it back to Donnie. The purple-clad turtle nods at him before going over the list. He huffs, grabbing Leo and dragging him to the side of the room. Antonio watches them quietly argue for a few moments until Raph kneels in front of him,
"Hey, little man, you feeling better?" Raph asks, holding a hand out. Antonio nods, grabbing Raph's hand and ducking behind it slightly,
"Can you tell Leo I'm sorry?" He asks,
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Raph assures, ducking his head to look at Antonio's face,
"That was scary for everyone, and you didn't know what he was doing. If you want to apologise, go ahead, but he'll just say the same thing," Raph gently squeezes Antonio's hand, giving them a reassuring smile. Antonio nods back, before turning as Donnie makes a loud 'ahem' noise,
"So, according to the list, Antonio is either allergic to onions, tomatoes, garlic, or some other herb or spice. I can't be sure without-" Leo elbows Donnie hard in the plastron, making him wheeze and glare at his brother,
"I can't know , so I'll make sure nothing in the shared food spaces has any of these, along with anything similar enough to also potentially trigger a reaction." The other turtle brothers nod along, and Donnie grabs another piece of pizza on his way out of the room
"Now that that's settled," Leo says, slipping back into casualty now that the trouble is over, "we should find something that you can eat," almost as if on queue, Antonio's stomach growls, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything in several days. Mikey chuckles, hopping up to follow Donnie,
"I'll find you something good! Don't worry," he sends a smile to Antonio and hurries out of the room.
Leo sighs, reaching for another piece of pizza before pausing,
"You didn't feel anything before actually eating the pizza, right?" He asks. Antonio nods, and Leo grabs his piece, flopping down next to Antonio on the couch,
"I'm sorry," Antonio says,
"What for?" Leo asks through a mouthful of food,
"Getting upset? Kicking you?" Antonio tries, unsure what he should apologise for specifically,
"Don't worry about it," Leo says casually, but a weird look crosses his face, "I'm sorry I didn't explain what I was doing better," he adds in a more serious tone.
"It's okay, I know now you weren't trying to hurt me," Antonio assures. They pause for a moment, then hold their hand out towards Leo.
Leo looks between the outstretched hand and Antonio's other hand, still gripping Raph's, for a moment, before smiling and taking Antonio's hand in his.
The three turtles sit quietly until Mikey comes back with food for Antonio, and they can continue their meal.