"What's up, bitch?"

Raphael's affectionate greeting holds no malice, tonight. He comes close and the smell of alcohol and blood washes over Don. Raph's knuckles are bloodied up, which means someone else got a pounding. A wad of money lands on the bench. So, cage fighting again.

"My contribution to the rent," says Raph.

Neither of them mention that he's pretty much the only contributor to the household's finances. Don tucks it away. Somehow he's become the one who manages what little money they get. Leo's too abstracted, Mikey would spend it all in minutes and Raph just doesn't care, as long as there's food on the table and alcohol to drink.

Raph's got scrapes down his arms and a swelling patch on his jaw, but he looks happy. Don suspects he's pretty buzzed, though nowhere near drunk. Happy Raph is rare these days. Don feels he should make the most of it.

"How was the fight?" He attaches a power converter to one of the working connectors on his Kraang hardware.

"Eh." Raph shrugs. "Mostly a walkover, but this one guy was okay. He was an ex-wrestler, I think. Huge. Had me on the mat a couple of times, but no follow through, ya know?" Raph sighs. "Still, worked out some kinks." His eyes stray to the laptop screen, and widen. "Speaking of…"

Emmaline is in her bedroom. The masked people have removed her wedding dress and are now zipping her into a gimp suit. Emmaline blackens her eyes with kohl, and paints scarlet on her lips.

"Nice outfit," says Raph.

"It's representative of her husband's repression of her sexual freedom."

"What the fucking fuck, Don." He stares at Emmaline, who is greeting people at the door of her home, still in the gimp suit, her painted face entirely covered. "You watch some weird shit."

"And you don't?"

"I like my porn nice and simple. Tits and ass."

"What about that bukakke stuff you were watching last month?

"I was looking for something different. Didn't do it for me."

"I'll print you out some Bondage Fairies then. That's pretty different."

Raphael snorts. "Are you shitting me? Fairies?"

"It's a bunch of half-naked fairies running around fucking bugs. I think you'd like it."

"Ugh, gross." Raphael scrunches up his shoulders and shivers.

"There's this one scene with a girl and a caterpillar where she-"

"Augh." Raphael gags, then turns and thumps him.

Don rubs his arm and laughs. "Well there's always tentacle porn."

"No thanks. And none of that weird hentai shit with the boobs bigger than their heads." He pulls a face. "I just want to look at a nice rack. Is that too much to ask?"

"Apparently."

Raphael shakes his head at the degradation of the porn industry. "There are some sick fucks out there."

"There are some sick fucks in here."

Raphael laughs. "Truth." They fist bump, an acknowledgement of shared freakhood.

Raphael watches the movie for a while. Don fiddles with the converter. He's getting activity, but nothing more than that. No real communication.

Raphael breaks his concentration. "Heard from April lately?"

"Yeah, she sent me an email last night. She's panicking about exams, but looking forward to summer break."

"She coming to New York?"

"Her dad wants her to go to Japan with him."

Raphael grunts. Don knows Raphael is offended on Don's behalf for Kirby moving April across the country. No matter how many times Don has argued it was college, not him they all know it's bullshit. Kirby might be grateful to them for rescuing his daughter and himself, but he wants something more for her than a life in the shadows.

Raphael is scratching off the dried blood on his knuckles. Flakes of it drift down onto the bench.

"Do you mind?" Don brushes them off onto the floor. "You'll contaminate my stuff."

Raphael grabs the back of Don's head and grinds his bloody knuckles into Don's face.

Don shoves him away. "I don't even want to know where your hands have been."

"You're such a pussy." Raphael sighs and folds his arms. "I miss Casey."

"Yeah, well, big name hockey player now." At least Casey's college is only three hours away, not across the country, so they sometimes see him on weekends when he doesn't have a game. "Is the bromance surviving the hardships of a long-distance relationship?"

Raphael punches his arm.

Don grins, glad to get a rise out of him. "Did you decide to stay exclusive or are you seeing other people?"

Raphael punches him in the gut this time, hard enough to wind him. Don leans on the bench and wheezes. On screen a naked woman is slowly undoing the crotch zipper on Emmaline's gimp suit.

Raphael squints at the movie. "What's she got drawn on her stomach?"

"Female sexual organs."

"The fuck?"

"The sacred uterus will set her free."

Raphael stares as the naked woman goes down on Emmaline. "You're making this shit up, aren't you?"

Don laughs. "Pretty much, yeah."

"You jack off to this garbage?"

Don doesn't bother answering.

"Best part I've seen so far though."

"Want some girl-on-girl porn?"

"Maybe. How come you have so much porn?"

"I spend a lot of time on the internet." He minimises Emmaline and her companion and unlocks his porn folder.

"Holy shit, Don. You have a problem."

Just one? he thinks.

Raph flicks through his collection. "There you go. Look at that chest."

Don ignores him and puts in another connector. The monitor flickers. Lines of Kraang hieroglyphics spill across the screen. "Got you."

"And on that note," says Raphael. He pushes off the stool. "I think I'll take that nice pair of tits to bed with me."

Don picks up a tissue box and holds it out to him with a grin.

"Very funny." He pauses, then grabs a couple of tissues. "Have fun you two."

When the door shuts behind Raph, Don brings up the movie window again. The credits are rolling. No problem, he's got plenty more. But maybe not porn. Might be time for some music instead.

The eclectic synth sounds of Daft Punk fill the lab. That's better. Don taps his fingers on the keyboard and settles in to discover some Kraang secrets.

I hope you enjoyed Conversations. Stay tuned for the companion piece, Confidences. And if you enjoyed this story, please let me know. I love to hear from readers.