100 Theme Challenge - 82. Can You Hear Me?

100 Theme Challenge
82. Can You Hear Me?

Don smiled at his little brother, amused at how dramatic Mikey could be.

“Love huh? You’ve only known Irma for a few hours,” Don said.

Mikey smirked at him. “So? You fell for April after you’d only seen her from a roof top.”

“Touché,” Don said. “At least you know Irma likes you back.”

“But you know that about April now too,” Mikey said, his eyes twinkling as he sat down on a nearby stool and started spinning around.

Don reddened slightly. “Yes I do.” There was no point in dissembling, Mikey had seen them together.

“And she likes Casey,” Mikey said, coming to a stop so he could watch Don closely.

“Eavesdropping again, Mikey?” Don asked, turning his attention back to the things on his work table.

“Casey likes her,” Mikey continued, not bothering to deny how he’d acquired his information, “but he likes you more.”

Don’s lips spread in a thin line. “This isn’t something I want to discuss,” he said warningly.

“Aw, but we just got to the good part,” Mikey said brazenly. “’Cause you like Casey that way too.”

“That way? Really, Mikey?” Don asked, trying to put a sneer into his voice. As soon as the words came out, he regretted them.

“You were alone with him a really long time last night,” Mikey said. “Bet he kissed you.”

“Stop,” Don said flatly, getting up to work at a different table.

It was a pointless maneuver; Mikey was on the scent and was not to be shaken loose. He bounced up and followed his brother.

“Irma kissed me on the cheek,” Mikey said. “It felt awesome, but I think kissing her mouth would be better. What did it feel like when you kissed April?”

In spite of himself, Don glanced up. Mikey’s expression was without guile, merely appearing open and curious.

With a sigh, Don said, “It’s hard to describe. She’s soft; her body is soft and it feels really good to hold her. Her lips are soft. I just want to put my arms around her and not let go. Kissing her makes me forget everything except April.”

“Do you get kind of an excited feeling in your stomach?” Mikey asked.

“Yes, a good excited feeling,” Don admitted.

His brother seemed to think about that for a minute. “It probably feels different with Casey though, doesn’t it?”

Mikey always did have a way of tenaciously hanging onto a notion. He might not be the smartest in the family, but Mikey was very adroit. If going at something from one direction didn’t work, he’d slide off and go at it a different way.

Don thought about not answering but he knew that Mikey would keep asking anyway. Persistence could easily have been his middle name.

“Where April’s soft, Casey’s solid,” Don said slowly, trying to find the right words. “He’s more . . . aggressive. April’s pliant and accepting but with Casey there’s a feeling of assertiveness that makes the experience exciting.”

Mikey’s brow was furrowed in concentration, proving he was serious and not merely digging for information. “So with April it’s like the feeling you get from laying in the sun all day and with Casey it’s more like the buzz you get from being in a fight without the getting hurt part.”

Surprised by his brother’s apt analogy, Don half smiled as he said, “That’s a good way of looking at it. It’s two completely different feelings but you like both of them.”

“I think I get both of those feelings when Irma’s around,” Mikey said. “How do you know for sure it’s love and you’re not just happy to have someone new to talk to?”

That was a more difficult question to answer because Don was still trying to figure that one out himself. “I think . . . I think it’s an obsession when you’re only worried about yourself and what the other person can do to make you feel good,” he said thoughtfully. “I think you love someone when you make it more about them, like you worry about their happiness first.”

“Like if you do everything you can for them and they do the same for you?” Mikey said. “Then everything is balanced and that’s love.”

“Balanced,” Don said musingly. “Love brings balance to two people.”

“Master Splinter says balance is one of the most important things ever,” Mikey said. “He says balance can keep you alive and not having it can be really bad.”

“Yin yang, perfect balance,” Don said, his voice soft. “Maybe that’s what April and Casey represent to me.”

“If someone found their perfect balance, it’d be wrong to say they couldn’t have it,” Mikey said.

“Yes,” Don agreed. Talking to Mikey was more helpful than he thought it would be. Maybe Don’s perfect balance required three sides and he hadn’t realized that until now.

“Leo and Raph have perfect balance when they’re together,” Mikey told him. “They always have.”

Don had been staring at the random junk on the table but Mikey’s unexpected words made him look up. His brother’s blue eyes weren’t shining with their usual mischief; instead they were deep pools of intensity aimed directly at Don as Mikey drove home the point he’d been trying to make all along.

“You’re really determined that I accept this choice they seem to have made,” Don said.

Mikey shrugged. “With April it was love at first sight for you. Casey was totally the opposite; you were determined not to like him. The only thing they have in common is that you didn’t mean to fall in love and you didn’t go out looking for it. It just happened. That’s what’s going on with Leo and Raph. They’ve always been in love with each other; they just didn’t accept it until lately. I think that makes it more right than wrong. Way more right.”

“You’re getting to be pretty philosophical,” Don said lightly.

“I don’t know what that means,” Mikey said, chuckling. “But if you’re saying I’m awesome then you’re right. I’m pretty sure what happened with Bradford made me think harder about stuff.”

Don sat quietly for a moment, neither moving nor saying anything. Mikey remained as still as he could, sensing that his brother was about to make some concession to his previous attitude towards their older brother’s relationship.

“This is a lot for me to take in,” Don finally said, “and I can’t claim to have the same lenient view as you. I do have to admit that it’s been pointed out to me that I might be acting like a hypocrite considering the whole April and Casey thing.”

“Does that mean you’ll keep an open mind?” Mikey asked excitedly.

“How about I say I won’t ride them about it? I think I can stay neutral as long as their thing doesn’t hurt the family or our team,” Don replied, adding, “And as long as I don’t have to watch any PDA’s.”

A slow grin stretched across Mikey’s face. “They’ve been doing that in front of you for years,” he said. “It’s called arguing.”

Don wasn’t sure what got into him, but he couldn’t resist saying, “I thought they called it foreplay.”

Mikey burst out laughing and Don joined in. For the first time he felt a bit less uneasy by his brother’s affair.

Their moment of mirth was interrupted by the sound of Don’s T-Phone. Glancing at the screen, Don saw that the caller was April.

“Hi, April!” Don said, his tone carrying the lilt that he reserved just for her.

A loud burst of static hit Don’s eardrum and he yanked the phone away from his head with a wince. “Donnie, I . . . ssszzzz . . . he went . . . ssszzz . . . ooze . . . .”

The static was so bad that Don had to strain to pick out any of her words.

“April! Say that again! April! April, can you hear me?” Don practically shouted into the phone.

There was no sound on the other end and Don thought the line had gone dead. Then a crunching noise came through the line, followed by, “. . . Stockman . . . alley . . . ssszzz . . . followed . . . .”

“Where are you?” Don asked loudly, growing increasingly frantic. If there was anything he didn’t like to hear, it was Stockman and ooze in the same sentence.

He thought he heard the faint sound of her voice, but it was washed out by the static.

“April? Can you hear me?” Don called again, but the connection faded out completely.

Mikey was staring at his brother, having been close enough to hear the entire conversation.

“What’s going on, Donnie?” Mikey asked.

Jumping out of his seat, Don quickly headed for the outer door with Mikey racing to keep up. “April’s in trouble. We’ve got to find her.”