𝚁𝙰𝙸𝚈𝙰

"You gave her the rundown?"

"Yes," I laughed. "Chill, Leo. She's cool."

"I'm chill," he insisted. "What's your cover on this one?"

I sighed, setting my pencil down and leaning back into my chair. J.T. and I had discussed what to tell Liv and what not to on our way to Mira Place to make sure we didn't accidentally reveal anything to her. Then we'd split ways when we reached our separate apartments, me promising to text her once I'd asked Liv, who was actually excited to have another girl over and said yes right away. Since then, I'd been in my room finishing off homework and that's when Leo called me asking about my day, as he usually did when he was bored in the lair. As soon as I mentioned hanging out with Jaz he got nervous that she might slip up and ruin the complex, carefully-woven lie we'd crafted around my sister. But I'd made sure to give her a quick rundown on the issue when we were discussing our cover story, which was so close to the truth it almost seemed too easy.

"We met at the zoo today, she asked me about Red and we got talking, realized we're neighbours and decided to hang out tonight." I waited for his approval.

"You think Liv's gonna buy it?" He sounded doubtful. "You know you don't make friends very easily."

I rolled my eyes and propped my feet up on the corner of my desk. "She'll be too busy being excited that I made a friend who's more my age and isn't a dude."

Leo laughed. "You're probably right. You got a lot of homework today?"

I glanced at the sheets of paper spread across my desk, covered in formulas and numbers. "Not really, just some physics questions. Should be done in ten minutes. How's it going over there?"

"Not bad," he said. "Just finished a session in the tube."

I cringed at his name for the holey wall's cylindrical workout room. 'A session in the tube' always sounded so weird.

"Sensei's...doing something to his bonsai," he chuckled. "Mikey's bored out of his shell and started bugging Donnie an hour ago. And Raph's not back yet, so it's pretty quiet around here."

Jeez, Raph's sure taking his sweet time. "Well, you guys are gonna have to deal without me until after flight training tomorrow."

Leo groaned. "Seriously?"

"Trust me, if I could drop out of school, I would; but Liv won't even let me finish it online, so I have to go." I shrugged. "Don't worry, I'm gonna ditch on Wednesday and hang out with you guys until I gotta work."

He laughed. "She won't let you drop out but she's fine with you missing every second day?"

"Liv ditched more than me when she was in high school. She knows I stay caught up on homework and keep my grades decent, so it's cool with her."

"Raiy!" Olivia shouted from the kitchen. "Get your ass out here and make these breadsticks!"

"...You gotta go?" Leo asked after a moment, clearly having heard my sister.

"Yeah, sorry." I lifted my hand up to my ear. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya."

I pressed the stud down, ending the call. "Coming!" I yelled before Olivia could pester me again, gathering my homework to finish while the breadsticks baked in the oven. I double-checked to make sure Red was still asleep in his cage's hanging pouch, then left my room.

Liv shot me a disapproving look when she saw me enter the kitchen with unfinished schoolwork in my arms. "You're still not finished your homework?"

"At least I'm doing it," I pointed out. "Leo called, so I got a little caught up."

"Thank god you made a female friend," she mumbled. I rolled my eyes, snatching the breadstick recipe off the counter and beginning to collect my ingredients.

"So what's her name again?"

"J.T.," I answered, standing on my toes to reach one of the tall cabinets. "Her real name's Jasmine Tayor. I call her Jaz."

"Her first name is two names?" Liv asked, shredding mozzarella for the alfredo sauce.

"Yup." I glanced over the recipe in my hand, reading the first step. "Did you do the yeast-thing?"

"You mean proof it?" She corrected, not looking up from her shredding. "Yes, it's in the stand mixer."

Yes! I hurried over to the mixer and inspected the contents of the bowl, the strong smell of yeast filling my nose. "How long?"

She sighed in contemplation. "I dunno...seven minutes?"

"Sweet."

While I waited for the yeast to finish proofing, I gathered all my measuring utensils and ingredients on the counter. Olivia started laughing her ass off when I caused an avalanche of baking sheets and cooling racks to crash into my face while trying to grab a particular one. Thankfully, she reassured me my skin was not bruised or forming any bumps after getting a hold of herself. There was a knock on the door as I was picking up the fallen sheets and Liv instantly gave me that 'I'm not getting it' look.

"Fine," I grumbled, straightening and quickly fixing my hair as I made my way to the entrance. It's probably Jaz, anyway.

When I pulled the door open, J.T. grinned at me. "Hey," she said. "Um, I heard a crash? So I just thought I'd come help if that's cool."

Olivia started laughing again from the kitchen and I felt embarrassed shades of red creep across my cheeks. "The baking sheets hate me, apparently." I swung the door open further and stepped back for her. "Come on in, I just started with the breadsticks."

She smiled and walked in cautiously, closing and locking the door behind her. "I didn't have anything to bring, I'm so sorry," she said quietly. "But I promise when I go to that pizza place I'll grab you guys something."

I waved her concerns away. "Don't worry about it, having someone to talk to other than Liv is honestly a blessing."

Jaz grinned and took off her ballcap before following me into the kitchen. I gestured to Liv, who was dumping her grated mozzarella into a pot on the stove. "This is my sister, Olivia."

At her name, she turned around with a smile on her face. "Hi. You're J.T.?"

She nodded, taking in the kitchen. "Thanks so much for having me over, I would've brought something but I just got here so my place is empty. I'm going out tomorrow, though, so I can grab something."

"Oh, pfff." Liv stirred the alfredo sauce, looking incredulous. "No worries. We always make a ton of food and end up eating way too much," she admitted with a laugh. I nodded along with her because it was true. Every time pasta was involved we ate an absurd amount then tried to justify our carb-loading by eating salad, which really did nothing. It was a terrible, unforgiving cycle.

"As long as you make sure the breadsticks don't come out dry again," Liv shot me a pointed glare, "then we're good."

I scoffed at that, crossing my arms indignantly. "They were not."

Her blue eyes widened and she turned to Jaz beside me. "They were so dry."

J.T. choked on her laugh, shooting my sister an amused look. "I'll do my best," she promised.

I sighed dramatically. "Whatever," I announced, entering the kitchen to clean up my mess. "You guys suck."

─── ─ 影の啓示 ─ ───

The breadsticks did not turn out dry. They were perfect and golden and I'm positive I ate too many. I did, however, owe all the credit to J.T., who turned out to be an avid baker and was impressively adept in the kitchen. The three of us exchanged stories over dinner, laughing at mine and Olivia's horror stories from a time when neither of us knew how to make much past instant noodles and canned soup. J.T. told us about how she grew up learning all her favourite recipes at all-day baking get-togethers with her mom, grandma and great grandmother. She was the unofficial, designated baker back home at her farm. Jaz did have a few funny stories from early in her baking career: like the time she used expired yogurt in a muffin recipe, or when she forgot to put tinfoil over her banana bread while it baked. Both incidents — of which her family still hold against her — apparently resulted in a very angry, very nauseous household. It was almost comparable to the time I quite nearly sent the apartment up in flames with a cinnamon bun.

But we didn't talk about that.

After we cleaned up and Liv went off to call Andy, I took Jaz on a quick tour that ended in my room so we could finally talk. I was dying to hear what she'd promised to tell me later, but told her mine first since it was hardly anything spectacular. Although when I told her the reasoning behind Raph's nickname for me and her eyes went wide with emotion, I suddenly felt my chest grow all warm like I was wrapped in a big fuzzy blanket. And thinking of Raphael calling me by my first name was suddenly the single best thing I could think of.

Then she told me how Raphael looked at me when I wasn't looking and just as quickly, my nickname was the second best thing I could think of.

I could barely speak. "Are you serious?"

J.T. nodded, her blue-green eyes sparkling. "Straight out of a movie, I'm tellin' ya." She grinned, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "I probably could've cried it was so adorable...Man, I wish I was better with words, I'm doing such a shitty job trying to describe it."

"I dunno," I mused. "I have a pretty nice image in my head."

She laughed, using her foot to send her spinning in a circle in the swivel chair at my desk. It was unbelievably nice finally having someone to talk to about my relationship with Raph. After my slip-up with Liv a few years ago, I decided to steer clear of any mention of the brothers in conversation. It was hard, and I came dangerously close to caving and spilling the truth to her on too many occasions, but eventually, I got used to having no one. I had the brothers, of course. Leo would always listen and be there for me, and Mikey was more than happy to keep me company and talk about literally anything. Hell, even Donnie and Splinter would make time for me. But...this was different.

It hit me then how much I'd miss J.T. when she left the city. We'd only met yesterday and spent half of today together, but somehow we seemed to click.

If Leo hadn't scared her away yesterday...the idiot.

"I'm sorry about Leo yesterday," I began. "He's almost as bad at first impressions as Raph. Well, actually, he is a bit of an ass at times." I could think of too many times I'd wanted to punch Leo in the face for being a huge jerk. But the good moments far outweighed the bad.

Jaz shrugged, suddenly seeming far away. "Yeah, he's...not as nice as I thought."

I frowned, trying to read her expression. "Did he do something?" I asked. Why is she being so weird?

"What?" J.T. blinked at me, confused. "No...aside from...y'know, being all macho and uptight." She shrugged again, but she didn't look upset at all about Leo's behaviour. In fact, she looked like she was trying to hide a smile.

"What?" I pressed. "Something happened, didn't it?"

Her face began to flush and I noticed the brunette try to hide the colour behind her hair. "Nothing happened," she mumbled, sounding awfully guilty. "It's just..." Jaz shook her head and leaned back in the chair, spinning about absently.

I sat up straighter on my bed, unbearably curious and confused at the same time, waiting anxiously to hear what happened...or didn't happen? I don't know.

J.T. looked up at me through a wavy curtain of hair and lifted her shoulders innocently. "...He's kinda hot."

I stared at her. "Leo?"

"No!" She laughed and rubbed her face, clearly embarrassed. "I mean...yeah, but..." she threw her hands up in defeat, her cheeks red. "Come on, you're telling me you don't think so?"

"No," I answered immediately. "Leo's like my brother. All I see is an idiot."

J.T. pursed her lips, shades of red still dusting her cheeks. "God...it's weird, isn't it?" She asked, sounding worried. "Because I feel weird about it, but I can't not notice it. He's..."

I tried to picture it. "Well," I said. "He's not ugly, I can agree with you on that."

"Thank god," J.T. mumbled.

I snorted, watching the conflicted girl sitting in my room. "I'm not judging you at all; I'm literally dating Leo's brother. I was just not expecting you to call him hot."

Jaz nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Trust me, neither was I. To be honest, it's kinda been bothering me since yesterday."

I raised an eyebrow. "In a good way? Or...?"

She looked at me and I started laughing. Okay. Definitely in a good way. I started getting excited. "Why don't you come hang out and talk to him?"

Based on the expression she wore on her face, I could tell she'd already asked herself the same question. "He's not really my type, personality-wise."

Oh. I settled down onto my stomach and grinned up at her. "What would that be?"

"I don't know." She propped her arm up on the edge of my desk, resting her chin in her palm. "Someone smart — like, not an idiot. And kinda funny and adventurous, but likes to just hang out, nothing fancy or crazy. Loyal, too. Obviously." She laughed and brushed strands of hair from her face. "Um, I don't know...I guess someone who's always there to listen and gets along with my family and is polite and nice to just everyone. He's gotta have ambition, too. Can't get anywhere in life without that."

"Okay." I nodded. "So, Leo."

"No." She sounded disbelieving.

"He fits pretty close, actually," I insisted. "And even if he's not your type, he's still an awesome person and my best friend." Next to Raph. "I bet you won't hate him if you get to know him. Once he opens up he's a huge teddy bear, I swear."

Jaz hesitated, clearly still conflicted. Though I couldn't see the harm in hanging out at the lair for a little while — just talking to Leo, someone she was obviously quite attracted to. What's the big deal?

"C'mon, give him a chance, "I pleaded. "And if he still pisses you off, I'll punch him for you. I've been waiting for a good opportunity."

Her eyes brightened. "Okay. If they're cool with it, I'll come with you to the lair sometime."

I grinned. "I'll ask, but I'm sure they'll be cool with it. Can you do after five tomorrow?"

J.T. contemplated it before nodding. "Sure. Oh," she sounded worried again. "Leo mentioned something about a rat yesterday," she added. "Does that mean, like, a huge rat?"

I shrugged. "He's only, like…five-four, give or take."

The poor girl looked horrified.

I nodded. "You'll be fine."

author's note

heyo, im back! Apologies for the wait, but thank you guys so much for your patience once again! This chapter ended up longer than I thought it would be, which is awesome! J.T. over here spitting straight facts lmao. Leo is hot. I don't make the rules, he just is. Can't wait for them to start not hating each other it's gonna be hella cute.

So, I finally got school figured out: I got accepted into a 4-year design program at my preferred university and even though most of my classes will be online, I'm still pretty excited! glad to finally stop stressing about it so i can focus all my stress on getting a job in the middle of this chaos instead lol. lowkey loving quarantine life tho. a little depressed my summer has been freezing and the wifi is garbage but. could be worse so i ain't complaining

also, I released a narnia fanfic and revamped the extended summary for TSS and TSR if y'all haven't noticed. very proud and feeling inspired after editing my spider-man fanfic. might edit TSS next idk lmao.

Quick question: do you guys get notifications when I update/replace the contents of a chapter that has already been published? Like when I edited TSR's Extended Summary yesterday? i was pretty sure there's no notification sent out when I do that, but idk lol let me know please!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!