The scream of absolute glee that leaves Michelangelo's mouth seems to shake the lair. Destiny's tail spikes as she nearly falls off the swirling platform hanging above the living room, flapping her wings to save herself from the drop. Leonardo flinches, the pinball slipping between the levers and taking away any chance of setting a new personal high score, making him groan as he thumps his forehead against the machine.

The lab doors fly open as Donatello and Sarina emerge, Sarina's hands glowing, Donatello wielding a length of metal piping like a weapon.

"Okay, who ate the last slice of pizza?" Raphael shouts, storming into the living room from the dojo.

"Where is the danger?!" Sarina exclaims. "I will shoot on sight unless told otherwise!"

Donatello frowns, looking around as he slowly lowers the pipe. "That was Mikey's scream, right?" he asks.

"I thought he was in his room," Destiny says, frowning as she hops off the platform and alights in the middle of the living room pit.

"MIKEY!" Raphael roars. "YOU BETTER NOT BE DEAD OR I'M GONNA KILL YOU MYSELF!"

There's the faint sound of a door slamming, then rapid footsteps before Michelangelo skids into the main living area with a smile that's wide enough to eat a banana sideways. He hoists his phone into the air like a trophy.

"She replied!" he shrieks, hopping up and down as he giggles with glee.

Sarina lowers her hands as her palms stop glowing. "So the scream was of joy. I see."

Donatello frowns, forehead creasing. "She...as in—" he starts.

"Her! The apple of my eye! My muse! The donut cupcake to my pizza nunchucks!" Michelangelo rambles. He gazes down at his t-phone as if it's a precious treasure. "The most perfect girl in the world..."

Leonardo exhales and nods as he leans against the pinball machine. "Annalise. Definitely Annalise."

Destiny coughs. "Renet who?" She coughs again.

Michelangelo skips over to Raphael and shoves the phone in his face. "See? I called on senpai and senpai noticed me!"

Raphael wrinkles his nose, shoving the device away. "For the love of pizza, she's just a YouTuber."

"Is she not younger than you? That would make you, ahem...senpai," Sarina states. "So she is—"

"Lisey-chan?" Michelangelo's eyes sparkle and he gasps. "That's so cute!"

"If we weren't at least partially Japanese, I'd find this entire conversation disgusting," Raphael growls. He pauses. "Oh, wait, it's disgusting anyway."

He huffs and turns away, starting back to the dojo with heavy, deliberate footsteps. Michelangelo wiggles his non-existent eyebrows as he watches Raphael's retreating shell, bouncing on his feet.

"Aw Raph, don't be all broody just because you're still heartbroken over Taylor!" he calls.

A shuriken whistles through the air, and Michelangelo squeaks as he retracts into his shell. He clatters to the floor, spinning in lazy circles as the shuriken finds purchase in the punching dummy directly behind where his head had been. Raphael's eyes blaze, fists clenched and knuckles white as he grinds his teeth.

"Shut. Up," he snarls. "Don't talk about her."

He storms into the dojo, steam practically billowing from his nostrils, muscles bunched with rage. Michelangelo peeks his head out of his shell with a sheepish smile as the others give him long, slightly tense looks.

"I...hehe...hit a chord, huh?" he guesses.

Destiny sighs. "Do you blame him? That's a sore spot for all of us, Mikey." She purses her lips. "You've got to be careful about what you say."

The unmistakeable sound of something shattering inside the dojo earns a few winces from the group, and the angry scream that follows does nothing to release the tension hanging over them.

"I really hope that wasn't something important," Donatello says, a grimace stuck on his face.

Sarina frowns. "Is Splinter not present?"

"He went out to Murakami's with April and Casey," Leonardo says. "It's good. He doesn't leave the lair much."

"It's good to get fresh non-sewer air every now and then," Donatello agrees.

Michelangelo emerges from his shell, but stays on the floor, his joy effectively squashed. He didn't mean to make Raphael so angry, or at least not that angry. Riling Raphael up is, admittedly, one of Michelangelo's favourite pastimes, but it's clear that he let his mouth get ahead of his brain this time, which happens far more often than not. Thinking isn't his strong suit.

Still, he thought that he'd get normal angry, not "destroying the dojo and screaming" angry. Raphael has been better in recent months, less prickly, less moody, but now it's like he's fallen back to square one, the way he was right after everything with Mutacorp.

He stands up, tucking his phone away. "I'll just...uh...fanboy to myself from now on," he mumbles, crestfallen.

Sarina approaches him, resting her hand on his shoulder. "Don't feel too discouraged, Michelangelo. It appears you were just trying to lighten the mood, even if your word choice was questionable." She smiles softly. "If it means anything, I think it is wonderful that Annalise replied to your comment."

He hugs her arm. "Thanks, Sari."

"Of course. Now, Donatello," she says, turning to him. "We have plenty to sort through, still. Shall we get back to it?"

Donatello nods, waving the pipe he's still holding. "Gladly, my dear."

They disappear back into their lab, the door sliding shut with an echoing clang. Michelangelo excuses himself to the kitchen in search of snacks.

Leonardo pushes himself off the pinball machine, lips pursed in thought. Destiny watches his movements, waiting for his words as she cocks her head.

"I'm going to talk to Raph," he says. "Listen in for if it gets heated, okay?"

Destiny salutes with two fingers. "Aye aye, captain," she says. She smiles a little, fangs glinting. "I'm sure you can handle it, though."

He smirks. "I'm sure I can."

----------

Annalise edits the clips for her contest announcement video, fighting back a yawn. It's getting late, and she should be in bed, getting much-needed rest to tackle school tomorrow. Seriously, Mondays are the worst. She can get so much more done over the weekend. Sometimes, it feels like all school does is interrupt her YouTube time.

She shakes her head. School is good, she reminds herself. She even enjoys it sometimes. Tomorrow is going to be busy, though, and she dreads just how much she'll need to get done. She has a math test during second period, photography club at lunch, and then during her free period, she's going to study for an upcoming biology test with her classmate and sort-of friend, James. Then, after all that, she's got to go home and prepare another video.

She sighs and slumps against her hand, eyes itching. She's still got two years of high school ahead of her, and if it's already this exhausting, she can't imagine what it'll be like in college.

Oh, well. This is the life she chose, right? If she cut out YouTube, maybe school wouldn't feel so daunting.

She shakes the thought from her head. That's quitter talk, she tells herself.

She finishes editing the video and eyes the scheduling button. It's far too late to upload now, but if she schedules it for a later upload, people might get annoyed that she didn't release a "full" video like usual.

Her upload schedule is an attempt at one video per day, although school life brings that down more often than she'd like. To keep herself steady, she often records enough clips for multiple videos over the weekend so that in a pinch, she can reach into her archives and pick one. She goes so far as to make sure she changes her outfits for each video even if she's filming on the same day.

Maybe two uploads in one day isn't bad. "Ah, what the heck," she says to herself.

As she schedules it for an early morning upload, a few hours ahead of her set video for the day, the back of her neck prickles. Her entire body freezes, holding her breath as she waits for the sudden feeling of being watched to fade. The apartment settles around her, and she swivels her chair around, staring at her bedroom door.

"Mom?" she calls. Nothing. "Pepper?"

The jingling of her dog's collar approaches, and Annalise goes to open her bedroom door. Pepper waits outside, ears perked in questioning, and Annalise stoops to pet her. The hallway is just as empty as ever. She can hear her mom's sleeping playlist coming from her bedroom, the sounds of piano and violin bringing Annalise a bit of comfort. She laughs at her paranoia.

Pepper follows her back into the bedroom, finding a spot to rest on her collection of stuffed animals. Annalise sits back down at her computer, still smiling to herself at the silliness of it all, when she realizes that her cursor is roaming around the screen without her guidance, darting back and forth erratically.

Annalise frowns and wiggles the mouse. The cursor moves with it but almost fights it, like when Pepper tugs against her leash on walks. Annalise grits her teeth and smacks the mouse against her palm, eyebrows furrowed, and the cursor goes still.

She stares at the screen for a solid five seconds before rubbing her eyes and leaning back. She's too tired for this right now.

She schedules the video as planned for a few hours from now, then shuts down her gaming laptop. Hopefully, whatever buggy thing made her cursor act up will be fixed when she restarts it tomorrow. She prays her subscribers will be as excited about the contest as she is. Especially PizzaNunchucker.