This song

It reminds me of the good old days when my friend group was functional 😂😂😢

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It had been ten minutes.

Ten fucking minutes of unrelenting silence that seemed to choke out any conversation topics you tried to think of as you timidly trailed behind him.

It was like only you had a problem with this, because Leo seemed to have his heart set on staying quiet the whole trip. It was slightly disheartening that you were about to embark on this double agent type adventure but your relationship with this 'teammate' (I guess you could call him) was pretty icy. Rightfully so though, you had been sort of a handful... but most of it was justified...

Pretty much the only thing you really regret was smashing his TV show to bits. If the roles were switched, you probably would've slain some bitches. So a gratefulness floated in your head that Leo didn't beat your bitch ass, even though he could've completely slap chopped you to little grumpy bits.

A patience comparable to a saint. With that in mind, maybe he could handle you trying to make small talk.

"So... Uh, Leo... How is it living down here?"

Oh my god Y/n... Living down here wasn't exactly an artistic choice for them now was it? For fucks sakes they're goddamn mutant turtles who have to live underground because if they so much as enter the wrong person's field of vision all hell will break loose upon them!!

Your mind immediately ran rampant at your hesitant yet unthoughtful words.

The turtle seemed uninterested in your question, but answered anyway (still uninterested.) "We make do."

"Ah..." The silence between you settled back down, making your feel like you were physically coated in awkward and it made you want to scratch it off of your body. You refrained of course, because you weren't completely crazy.

The echos of your shared steps were the only thing you could hear in the dark abandoned subway station. It made you wonder just how far under the city you were, since the usual bustling city was always alive with angry drivers and countless pedestrians. Yet you could hear nothing of the sort, maybe a few soft honks but that seemed to be it.

You let out a sigh that sounded a bit louder than intended and Leo spared a glance at you over his shoulder. You noticed this as you met his deep eyes, it took a moment before you smiled sheepishly up at him.

His eyes widened for a moment before he quickly looked forward again, his shoulders seemed to be a tad more rigid than before. He cleared his throat slightly with a cough then looked up at the top of the old, grimy tunnel.

You dismissed his odd behavior and timidly checked your phone. It was hella late, and you didn't think you'd get home any time soon either.

A groan left you. "My professor is gonna flip a dick." Leo peered over his shoulder at you again and raised what would be a brow. "Why is that?"

It was sorta surprising to you at he heard that and even more surprising that he actually showed some sort of interest in how you felt about things... That would've been great if he was like that a little earlier before he invaded your texts!

No, no... Chill Y/n, you destroyed possibly the only thing he loved, remember that.

A small sigh left you before you calmly explained. "Well, I'm just gonna be super late to class tomorrow and it'll probably drop my grade. And since I'm not one for waking up the first time my alarm clock rings, being late seems like it's going to be inevitable if we keep moving this slowly."

Only then did you realize that this guy was a literal turtle. Part of the species that defined slow and steady. But... You didn't know if that was offensive to him or not, just going ahead and lumping him together with any common turtle around may have been insensitive!

Your mind started to run wild on the topic while, subconsciously, you'd hoped he'd make this trip shorter for both of you and just pick you up already. You knew he was able to and that he in fact was not slow so this slowness was sort of unnecessary.

Leo's face didn't show any sign of being offended, in fact quite the opposite as he seemed almost amused and possibly took it as a challenge if your paired it with the deciding look in his eyes.

He stopped walking and turned to look at you fully. You stopped in suite and looked up at him with your poker face you hadn't quite mastered yet. "What?" You asked crossing your arms, but you begin to feel a bit anxious.

He sighed then scratched the back of his neck, eyeing the long tunnel ahead then back at you. "Look, you just want to get home as soon as possible right?" He asked with an exasperated voice. You firmly nodded.

With that Leo shrugged off his swords and adjusted the straps that held them so they rested on his hip tightly. He turned his back to you and bent his knees slightly. "Let's get going then."

Uncrossing your arms you sent them into the air. "Yes! Finally! Let's go!" You then climbed your way onto his back and held yourself around his neck, keeping your upper arms safe from the dull edge of his shell by keeping a good amount of fabric in the way of it.

Leo adjusted to the extra weight in his back and sort of frowned over his shoulder at you. "What do you mean finally?"

You rolled your eyes lightheartedly. "Well, I wasn't gonna ask you to carry me around, you might think I'm lazy." You thought for a moment. "I mean I am but..."

Leo's confused frown turned to a small grin as he looked forward, letting out a small snort. That snort made your heart do something weird, you didn't know what it was and didn't care to find out... But it was pretty adorable.

He began to run, holding your legs at his sides so you wouldn't fall off of his shell and cause even more problems. Small gusts of warm air slipping past hit your face and ruffled your hair as he picked up speed. It was pretty warm for an abandoned subway which was very pleasant since all you really had on was your knee-length pajama shorts and an over worn sweater.

This seemed to be a good opportunity to ask him some questions, you knew it was an opportune time to learn more about him and his brothers and rat dad. He was a giant mutant turtle afterall, and as far as you knew that was pretty rare.

But of course your mind was drawing a blank at that particular time and you had to improvise.

"So, thanks for putting my shoulder back into place." You said, it was still pretty quiet despite his running so he could easily hear you. (I mean, his footsteps were super quiet too... Because he's a ninja...)

He perked slightly at your sudden words. "Huh? Oh, yeah it was no problem, thanks for not screaming." He said with a small chuckle. You laughed along as to lighten your sort of iffy relationship with him. "Well, I can honestly say it wasn't easy, but I think being in shock did the majority of keeping me quiet." You replied tightening you grip around him slightly.

Leo didn't respond and you could almost taste that awkward silence that seemed to be trailing behind you both closely. "So... What's the deal with Bebop and that rhino dude?"

He took a moment before sparing a glance back at you. "What? Their taste for evil?" You laughed slightly then shook your head.

"No, their taste in fashion, I mean... that rhino had gold melted into his body. What the fuck?" Leo stayed silent, listening intently to the small tangent so you continued on.

"Also, Bebop! Why's a pig wearing something I'd see at a rave? Like cool it with the Tron themed spandex, damn." You shook your head at the thought of the ridiculous looking swine.

The turtle carrying you laughed again, a laugh that kept you from having an axeity induced heart attack if he didn't know what Tron was. Obviously he did though which made you grin happily to yourself. "Speaking of Bebop, way to go on flooring him. That was pretty impressive." He complimented. You shrugged as if it weren't a big deal.

It totally was a big deal, but you played it cool. He'd probably been through stuff that was ten times cooler on a daily basis. "Yeah well, crippling post-secondary debt turns you into a cutthroat bitch." You replied ominously.

Leo suddenly stopped his quick pace and looked up. Curious you followed his gaze and saw a ladder climbing up to the surface.

That's strange... I didn't think the subway had any manholes

You took a look at your surroundings and only then noticed the change of setting from underground railway to an out of the way tunnel with no tracks in it. It was sort of peculiar, but you weren't paying much attention to anything but trying to make Leo like you, or at least be able to tolerate you.

"Hold on tight." He said as he let go of your legs and grabbed hold of the ladder, beginning his climb. You clung to him for dear life. This was not all that safe but it was easy to keep your legs around him since your knees hooked on his shell perfectly, the only bad thing about this was your arms as his shell was digging into your flesh. You could already feel the bruise developing on both of your underarms from you weight pulling you down on the edge.

You groaned and clunked your head on the back of his shell, concentrating on keeping your grip.

"Are you good back there?" He asked as he carefully climbed higher, looking to the heightened exit. "Yeah, still holding on. I just have close to no upper body strength." You groaned as you slowly pulled your body up enough for your chin to rest on the top of his shell.

He sighed in amusement and reached back with one hand to make sure you didn't fall as he shrugged you up higher on his back giving you a better grip on him.

You smiled a blew a strand of hair out of your face "Heh, thanks Leo." He only nodded and lifted his gaze back to the manhole and continued climbing.

Once you both made it to the top, Leo lifted the lid ever so slightly, letting the street light filter down as he squinted and peeked out. You peered over his shoulder, spying a plethora of feet hurrying past, a good distance away.

You both stayed there for about a minute and a half before the foot traffic peetered out to only about a couple people walking past at a time. You still didn't think the coast was clear enough yet for you and Leo to pass without being noticed, but obviously you (sadly) didn't have thr ninja skills he did, or really any ninja skills whatsoever.

He deftly picked up the lid and gently set it aside so it made no sound at all. He pressed his palms in the cement around the hole and hoisted both if you up.

This was where you held your breath. There were still too many people walking past the alley for your taste. You were getting so anxious you were scared that the passerbys may be able to hear your heart drumming on Leo's shell.

The turtle you were holding onto locked his eyes on the people walking past as he held the manhole cover, sliding it back in place, making a tiny grinding sound from metal sliding against metal. That nearly gave you a heart attack, luckily still nobody had saw you, or had the slightest idea you both were there.

Leo then looked up and scanned the buildings quickly before launching up with no warning. You held in your surprised yelp as best you could, but it still made a loud enough sound for people to look over in curiosity.

Thank God you were already on the rooftops though. You let out the breath you were holding then nervously laughed. "Oh my god." You chuckled out breathless and put your forehead on the back of his shell. "Thank you, Leo, for giving me half a heart attack."

Leo looked back at you. "Well I wasn't about to wait for the streets to clear out in the city that never sleeps." He defended as his eyes trailed away.

A groan passed through you as you tilted your head forward onto his shell. Letting out slow breath against him and relaxing your jumpy nerves.

"Okay, let's get this night done with." He shook lightly, a tremor in his voice.

"I hear you sister." You said and took a look around at where you were, except the only thing that was all that familiar was the stuffy, polluted sky and the endless sea of buildings. "I- uh... I live that way I think?" You hummed to yourself.

Leo's head tipped to the side to hear you better. "You don't know where you are?" His eyes fleeted back to you momentarily, slightly annoyed. "What kind of New Yorker are you?" The tone was sharp as he began moving in a seemingly random direction.

"I'm not a New Yorker! I've only been here for like, five months!" You frowned down at the back of his green head adorned with the blue fabric.

A sly smile shot over his shoulder at you. "Oh? And how's the city treating you so far?"

You gave a look of completely fed up as you raised your brow, he seemed to be holding back a laugh. "If I'm honest? Not all peaches and cream." You said with finality.

The look on your face elicited a laugh from Leo. "I can imagine."

A small secret smile slid into your face as he looked forward again. "Hold on." He said suddenly then leaped over an alleyway almost immediately after his breif warning. You didn't really do what he advised since the jump didn't seem to be that large and he would easily clear it. You took the split second to observe the bright lights of the heart of the city.

The city was admittedly quite beautiful despite its violence and crime, and seemingly endless weirdness crawling in the corners and gutters of the shadows.

You looked down at Leo as he dropped down silently through the cool air. A small wave of guilt ebbed at the edges of your heart you again for thinking so little of him, like he was some weird cockroach invading your life but here he was, taking his time to-

CLUNK

Leo had landed successfully, sudden stop made your head jerk forward and smack your nose and forehead hit against his hard shell, making a hollow clunk, and definitely leaving a bruise.

At the sound the turtle seemed to be confused at first until he froze suddenly and timidly looked over his shoulder at you with a cringing expression. "Was that you?" He asked hesitantly.

You groaned in response, blinking rapidly as if it would shake the slight daze. "Who else would it be?"

"Well, are you okay?"

You looked up, pulling your hand away from your face. "I don't know. Does it look okay?"

His face seemed to look a bit shocked then he looked off a few times, seemingly to avoid staring. "Uh... You uh..." He finally met your eyes for a second before stretching a painfully obvious phoney grin. "Yeeeess...?"

"Oh my god." You sighed and rested your cheek on his shell, right behind his head. "Let's just keep going." You said, with your right arm resting over his shoulder, waving him to continue his course.

He kept going, the silence returning again, except it wasn't as tense as it was each time before.

"I mean, it really isn't that bad." He said with a softness to his voice that could only be associated with trying not to laugh.

You weren't sure exactly how to react to this, but the thought process to your emotions said you could be either angry, salty, irritated or ignore his comment. However, a bubbly feeling in your belly distracted you from your thoughts as it began to grow bigger and bigger and bigger. You were a bit scared of the possibility it would be gas, which was definitely not something you needed right now.

Finally it pushed out of your mouth, but contrary to what you initially thought it was, (which was suspected to be an enormous belch) it was a loud, obnoxious chortle. This took Leo off gaurd slightly but he easily began to laugh along with you.

The laughter took you by surprise, but it was nice. A feeling of contentment settled in, yes... You felt right at home out on a roof with a painful, pulsing face atop this specific mutant turtles back.

"It's awful isn't it." You laughed joyfully through your pain, trying to calm down. Leo looked over his shoulder, trying to hold his laughter in long enough to give a proper answer. But the sight of his tearing up eyes made you howl out again, Leo started to laugh again at the sight of your laughing face.

He started to slow down presumably to take a breather from what had just happened. But you took a look around and realized that you were in fact in your neighborhood. "Oh thank goodness." You cheered enthusiastically, except as your laughter died down, tiredness filled it's shoes and you calmly rested your head on his back "I'm hooooooommme!" You yawned, making Leo yawn too through his dying down laughter.

It was quiet as he made it to your building and climbed down the emergency escape stairs nimbly until he landed at yours, two windows down. He landed on the railing then crawled down to the metal platform. He crowched down so you could slide off easily. "We're here." He whispered carefully.

At the sound of this you pushed yourself to slide off his shell, except you didn't plan on him still being a foot away from the metal grating. So you slipped off if him (having a mini heart attack in the process) and landed on your ass ungracfully next to him. Leo jumped slightly at your body lifelessly falling off of him and making more noise than if a goddamn astroid to hit the Earth.

"Shhh!" You frantically hushed the whole metal contraption that was still shaking and creaking from you flopping on it like a bag of raw meat. This while situation made you wide awake for a second, but it didn't last long and you went back to feeling drowsy rather quickly.

You grinned sheepishly up at Leo and he simply shook his head and stood up. "Alright well, have a good night."

You nodded along with him in agreement and pulled open the still open window, however you stopped when you saw all your beloved VHS' lying around on the cheap coffee table in front of your couch. A sudden hurt hit your chest and whipped around. "Leo!" You said rather loud, catching him just before he climbed back up to the rooftops.

He looked back down at you, standing on the railing and holding the bars on the one above him. He tilted his head and squinted at you as if telling you to hurry it up.

"Er, right." You stood back up, looking up at him. "I'm... I'm really.. I didn't." You sighed "look I- how much did that show mean to you?" Apologizing was not really your strong suit, but believe it or not this was better then you used to be.

Leo's eyes widened for a moment, before he looked away with a subtle, disappointed and a bit embarrassed looking frown.

The guilt pushed you to swallow your pride and just get it over with. "Look, I'm... I'm sorry I broke your show. I know how much it means to you."

He shook his dismissively, "It's really not a big deal. It's just a dumb show." He said this a bit too quickly, embarrassed and bit touchy on the subject.

Despite your actual genuine apology, you didn't feel like it really made it up to him at all. So instead of talking more about it you figured you had to even the playing field for him, maybe just help end the bad blood and put the weird relationships you've had with each other over the past few weeks behind you.

Such as: you being an obsessive stalker, him saving your ass every other day, being sorta friends, getting a slight distaste for him, being kidnapped and straight up hating him for a hot second, then finally being awkward buddies that didn't really feel okay about each other and walked home together... Well walked you home.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." You said then slipped into your home, quick to clean up your Crognard VHS' in their big cardboard box. You half expected him to dash once you got into your apartment, yet every time you checked he remain perched at your fire escape, unmoved. As you looked down at the box of tapes all squared away, it felt like you were sending a child out into the world with nothing but the clothes on their back. You shook your head of such feelings.

Quietly lifting the box of preciousness into your arms, you waddled over to the window and attempted to lift it a bit more with you foot. That didn't work so you put your head through the window and attempted to push it up with your neck. (Because putting the box down would just be too much work)

However the window easily slid up without you. Confused you looked up, only to come eye to eye with a deep blue that reminded you of the ocean. Terrifyingly endless.

"Oh! Uh thank you." You said awkwardly after staring a beat to long. He blinked and cleared his throat, stepping away. "Yeah, no worries."

As you crawled up out of the window you scooped the box up and nervously smiled up at him. "Here." You said, extending the box to him.

He looked over it slowly. "Um, thanks?... What it this?"

A small sigh left you and you rubbed the back of your neck "Since I broke your Space Heros, I'll give you my equivalent to your Space Heros. You can watch them, sell them... Or..." You shuddered. "Break them."

He looked a bit nervous as he looked down at the tapes. "Really, it isn't a big deal." He glanced back to you with a weak smile. "You don't need to give me this."

You frowned up at him and shook your head. "Dude, if someone broke my copies of Crognard the Barbarian the way I broke your copies of Space Heros, I'd be right pissed, so I know you're mad about it. I just figured if we're going to be hanging around each other I don't want it to be uncomfortable... I want you to have this." With that you gently pushed the box closer to him again. "Think of it as an olive branch. It's yours now."

Finally, after a good ten seconds of him searching your certain face, his offstandish behavior seemed to melt away to a soft, relaxed smile pulled across his green complexion as he let out a breath. "Thank you Y/n."

A wide smile raised onto your face at his acceptance, "Take care Leo."

He chuckled softly. "You too." He hopped into the railing with the box under his left arm but then looked back to you.

A soft, warm breeze blew past you both and the half moon shone down through the grates of the fire escapes platform above you, checkering both you and Leos face. His eyes seemed to cut through it like non conforming pools of water.

He was inspecting your face and you felt it begin to get uncomfortably warm under his intense yet careful gaze. It was like he was trying to find all your secrets, fears and aspira-

"Y/n, you have something right there." He said pointing under his nose, mirroring you. Confused you quickly brought your hand to under your nose and looked at it. "Oh shit." You cursed as you saw the thick red liquid running down your fingers. It must've been from your head injury from his shell that still was incredibly sore and in pain.

This is embarrassing. This is so embarrassing. oh my god help!

"Are you okay?," He asked obliviously.

Horrified. "Yeah! Yup don't worry about it."

Fuuuuuckk I cannot believe this! I cannot believe myself!!

He tilted his head a bit. "Are you sure? That looks like a lot of blood." You shot your arm out, "Yes, I'm positive! Just go home, it's no big deal."

Caught monologuing with a bloody nose... Killlll meeeee!!!

He sent one last, slight concerned look at you. "Alright, if you insist. But if it gets worse you should probably go to a hospital."

"YUP! Got It! Thank you!" You cried out with finality.

Please just leave already

He shrugged. "Alright, I'll... see you later." And with that he finally pulled himself quietly up the fire escape and ran back the way you'd come from.

After a good minute, you an intense want to curl up in a ball and die. Sadly you still had loans to pay off and the university would take your soul in payment instead. so you pulled your sorry ass back inside the apartment to stand at the sink, washing away the blood on your forehead and nose before heading off to bed, completely embarrassed and increadibly tired without the Crognard series.

I hope stuff like that doesn't become a regular occurrence... Otherwise giving up Crognard wasn't worth it.



But... It was totally worth it.


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Uggghgsgekwojsjjasgd I did my physics 30 diploma today and I think I bombed it, there was so many mixing techniques I had no idea how to do and it threw me for a fucking loop.

But fuck that!!

It's summer!!!
Fucking finally and now I'm off to adulthood... Riiiiiiiiiippp.

>Rain<