Chapter Text
The pounding of Casey’s heart filled his head, leaving the chance of needed silence plummeting to a simple zero. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, he was sitting in Donnie’s lab, alone, waiting for the return of all of his friends. Real men don’t cry, right?? If that was true why was Casey sobbing like a baby, does this mean he isn’t a man? Is he a useless wimp? Is he pathetic? Maybe he’s just a teenager, a boy, abandoned. No. Not even boys cry. Especially not vigilantes like Casey Jones. He’s strong, he’s rugged, he’s not perfect but he’s pretty close. God, this is pathetic, this is stupid, this is futile and pointless and idiotic. He shouldn’t be crying over nothing. Casey Jones doesn’t cry, and he NEVER will.
Casey wiped his face on his arms, wetting the sleeves of his hoodie and turning them a darker navy color than before. Everyone would be back at the lair soon, they went to get pizza and pick up April. The only person in the lair, besides Casey of course, was Splinter. Casey wasn’t too fond of Splinter, maybe because he was eerily tall, or maybe because he was a rat, either way, there was no way Casey would let Splinter see him upset, he didn’t want to talk to him about it and he sure as hell didn’t want anyone else to find out about it, especially Donnie. Casey got up off the floor and walked over to the lab sink, it was clean since nobody had been in the lab except for him and Donnie, and they weren’t doing anything but talking. Casey turned on the faucet and leaned on the edges of the sink, the sound of running water muting his brain, calming him down. He cupped his hand together and let the water fill them, to which he then threw the cold water in his face, trying to erase any evidence of him crying. The water felt good, it jolted him back to typical, sarcastic, loud, and annoying Casey. Nobody will notice his sleeves, maybe Donnie, but he can just say he was bored and drew on them with water or something, it might not be believable but the topic will get dropped, and that’s good enough.
Casey took a step back from the sink and walked to the lab door, just when there was a group of jittery teens carrying boxes of pizza. They were all walking in a cluster, conversing random topics, laughing at Mikey almost falling, overall just being normal. From the doorway Casey could see Donnie look around confused before locking his auburn eyes with Casey’s dark eyes, they were still a bit red, but it wasn’t too noticeable. Donnie was blushing a bit, his green cheeks dotting with pink.
“Hi Casey!!” Mikey shouted from beside Donnie.
Casey smiled and waved to the youngest turtle before walking over to the group. This “group” consisted of all of his friends, they were all great people, even if they were mutants. Casey reached the table, where everyone was currently standing around, laughing at Mikey’s jokes, genuinely enjoying each other's presence. After a while the group of rowdy teenagers sat down and began eating pizza,which was clearly the Turtle’s favorite food, on account that they ate it almost every night. Casey didn’t particularly care for pizza, but it was better than trash or the food he took from the school.
After they finished eating, everyone went their separate ways, Raph into his room, April and Leo into Leo’s room to meditate, and Mikey to the den. Casey and Donnie made their way to Donnie’s room, where they quite frequently hung out. Casey opened the door for Donnie before walking into the room and closing it behind him. The pair walked over to the bed where Casey flopped down, spreading out his arms and legs as if he were a starfish. Donnie laid down next to him, moving his arm as so not to lay on it. They both looked into each other's eyes, as if they were trying to read one another.
After a few minutes, Donnie turned on a movie, and they both eventually fell asleep.