By AppropriateNature13 (me)

A few hours later, Casey woke to see light pouring through the slats of the blinds. He groggily looked around, a little fuzzy on what was going on. It took him a few moments to register he was warm, and he looked to the source of said warmth. It was Shredder, cuddled against him with his arms around his neck, and laying his head against Casey’s chest. Shredder was still completely asleep, and didn’t look like he was going to wake up anytime soon.

That woke Casey up, and he blinked in surprise. It was taking him a few seconds to connect the dots in his head. Shredder, in bed with him, clearly having injuries on the mend, and in his apartment. Oh right, he fixed him up and invited him to stay. This was supposed to be happening. He still had his free arm wrapped around the sleepy villain, and honestly he was pretty comfortable.

With a quick glance to the clock, he knew he was going to have to go out on patrol soon, but he really didn’t want to wake Shredder up. Not when everything was peaceful for once. It was nice, weirdly enough. Casey sighed, and turned his attention back to Shredder. To Casey’s surprise, he shifted slightly and mumbled something in his sleep, snuggling closer. Casey chuckled to himself, debating whether or not to wake the man to tell him where he was going, or to let him keep sleeping.

The decision ended up being made for him, as Shredder yawned and blinked awake. He seemed kinda spacey, looking around for a few moments in confusion, before looking down to see he was cuddling Casey.

“Mornin’ Sleeping Beauty.” Casey chuckled. Shredder looked startled and pulled back, looking around rapidly. He was blushing with embarrassment, still confused on why he was in Casey’s bedroom. In his fervor, he jostled his injury and winced in pain.

“Why were we like that?” Casey shrugged at the question, finally sitting up himself.

“I dunno, you’re the one who was cuddling me after all. You good?” He gestured at Shredder’s chest. 

“I’m fine, Jones.” Shredder grumbled, rubbing his hands over his face, brushing away the last traces of sleep and tears. The dark circles under his eyes looked much better than they did yesterday, so that was good at least. His hair was a mess, and honestly, he looked a lot more relaxed than before, albeit rather sullen.

“Good for you. Now, I’ve gotta go out on patrol. So uh, you can stay if ya want. I’m not gonna stop ya. But you kinda have ta get off me so I can go.” Shredder flushed with embarrassment briefly and pulled off of Casey, who proceeded to stand up, grab some clothes out of a drawer, and leave the room. Shredder remained on the bed, staring out the still open door after him.

He sighed, touching the bandages on his chest, and wincing in pain. The room looked much more inviting in the early morning light, even if the light was just coming from a slatted window. He looked at the clock, and noticed it was only like five am. The bed was still really warm, and he was still kinda drowsy. That was all he needed to consider before lying back down and burying himself in the blanket. He dozed back off, feeling much safer than he did last night.

About two hours later, the light from the window woke him up. He sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes. Casey wasn’t here, and leaving would probably be a good idea. He started to climb out of the bed, only to hiss with pain again. The painkillers had worn off, and oh he was starting to feel the affects.

Sticking his head out the bedroom door into the living room, he looked around the empty apartment. Casey had left all the lights off, and the room looked hazy in the early morning light. He glanced around, suddenly feeling a little bit nervous. Was he allowed to do this? Casey said he could stay, but was he really serious? How long was Casey going to be gone anyway? It felt a bit wrong to just…be in his home. He wasn’t really sure what to do.

Steeling himself, he was pretty sure that if Casey said he was allowed to stay, he was supposed to make himself at home. He straightened up and walked into the room. A kitchen area was over by the front door, or what Shredder assumed to be the front door. On the counter was his bonsai that he dropped in the alley last night. Shredder was surprised Casey actually had taken the time to grab it, and had actually thought it got left behind. 

A brightly colored piece of tape on the pot caught his eye, it definitely wasn’t there before. It looked like the pot cracked when he dropped it, and someone had hastily tried to fix it. The tree itself seemed to be perfectly fine, the flower was still intact somehow. For a moment, he considered trimming some of the branches, before remembering that he was in a strange apartment and he didn’t know where anything was. It was comforting to know his tree was ok, however.

Sitting next to the pot, Shredder saw a scrawled note that looked like it was written on the palm of a hand. The ink was smudged and the paper was very crinkled. Despite the messy handwriting, he could sort of make out what it said.

If you’re still here, the painkillers are in the cabinet above the sink, and water glasses are in the cabinet next to that. Sorry about your plant, I hope the duct tape holds. I don’t know when I’ll be back, so I guess you can just do whatever. 

-CJ

Shredder looked around the small kitchen, and realized the sink that was being mentioned was by the window. His chest gave a pang of pain since he had to reach up into the cabinet, and he winced. The sooner he took the painkiller, the sooner he could get out of here. He still didn’t entirely trust how…nice… Casey was being to him, especially since he went off on patrol. There was every chance that he was going to tell the turtles exactly where he was, and they would come and end him. They may have spared him yesterday, but that was likely only out of pity.

He turned the tap on and started watching as the glass he was holding filled. The apartment was quiet, almost unnervingly so. It had been a while since it was quiet, both around him and in his mind. Krang’s influence was so loud and overpowering he wasn’t even able to hear his own thoughts while under his control. All he was able to think or feel was pain. He felt every  injury that the Turtles inflicted onto his possessed body, the pain from Krang being surgically attached to him, his hands being used to test his strength and having punched a metal wall. It all hurt so much. So very much. Then, Krang had the audacity to explain, while still controlling him, that he had every intention of leaving him for dead afterwards. How could he even have trusted Krang at all, he should’ve known something would happen, and yet he still trusted him. 

Suddenly, his hand felt cold and wet, shocking him out of his thoughts. He yelped and yanked his hand away from whatever he was holding. Had Krang returned? Was that one of his cronies? Was- The clank of a glass hitting metal refocused his attention. It didn’t break, but continued to overflow in the sink. He had zoned out for long enough that the water had begun spilling out of the glass, nothing more. He then became aware of how rapid his own breathing was, short and shallow, as well as the fact his face felt wet. He hesitantly reached up, wiping away tears that he hadn’t even registered.

He gripped the edge of the sink, desperately trying to collect himself. His erratic breathing was making the wound on his chest hurt more. He quickly reached over and turned off the tap, the water coming to a stop and the somehow not broken glass ceasing to overflow. Quickly, he opened the container of painkillers and took two, downing them and the water as fast as possible. He didn’t feel safe, leaving would be better, no one would find him.

But he still didn’t have his weapons, and the last time he was on the run alone at least he had something to defend himself with. This time he wouldn’t be able to. Blinking away a few stray tears that were still in his eyes, he started to weigh his options. He could stay here, with a crazy vigilante who probably could’ve killed him last night, and he could take him up on the offer of being in a warm apartment. Or he could run away again, alone and with no weapons, still severely injured and not having a plan as to where he’d go. If he ran away, and Krang found him again, he wouldn’t be able to fight back. He’d be caught again very easily and Krang would probably do…that…again to him. God that was the last thing he wanted.

On the other hand, if he stayed here, it would be the last place anyone would suspect. Not even the Turtles would think he was staying at their ally’s place. Plus, it was warm and dry, a lot more than he could say for most places he’d been staying while on the run last time. So far Casey hadn’t been outwardly threatening, but he’d seen Casey when upset before. The man threw a whole car!! He really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that. He had been before after all, and Casey was a surprisingly strong fighter for someone with no training. He kicked Shredder through a window from the other side of the room! So why was he being so friendly now? Well, friendly in his own, rough way.

He sighed, rubbing his chest a little. The painkillers had started helping. For the first time, Shredder noticed what shirt he was wearing. It clearly belonged to Casey, if only because it was the same blue as every other shirt he owned, and it had the “Filthy Harry” logo on it. So the Turtles weren’t kidding when they said Casey became a vigilante because he watched so many of those movies. He also noticed he had started to bleed through the bandages at some point, but thankfully not the shirt.

The apartment was still uncomfortably quiet, and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. Staying finally did seem like the better option, so long as he tread lightly and didn’t make Casey mad, but he didn’t have a plan from there. Normally, he wouldn’t have minded causing some trouble for the vigilante, but he was vulnerable and weaponless right now, so pissing off the guy who helped him seemed like a bad move. The note had said to just do whatever, but he couldn’t actually be sure what that meant. Looking around again, there was a coffee pot sitting on the corner counter, and he decided a safe assumption was that it’d be ok for him to have some.

He looked back through the cabinet where the glasses were, and thankfully, coffee mugs were in there as well. The coffee was still warm, so Casey probably made it before he left. Shredder sat down on one of the bar stools at the counter, and noticed there was a radio on the counter as well. Turning it on also seemed like a safe “whatever” option, especially since he wasn’t positive how to work Casey’s television and the silence of the apartment was incredibly stressful. It was some local morning show, talking about current events or something, he wasn’t paying too much attention. He was just thankful to drown out the silence and his own stressed thoughts for a little bit. The mug was warm in his hands, and for the first time that day, he felt himself relax a bit.

It was nice, peaceful even, sitting in the dim morning light and listening to the radio. The light bathing the room in a soft orange-red hue. It was probably quiet outside too, with the sound of traffic barely reaching inside the small apartment, people’s daily commute aiding in the ambience of the room. Every so often, a horn would beep, and Shredder would wonder if someone was just being impatient or if they were cut off or something along those lines. The crackle on the radio was a welcome comfort, adding a background hum of sorts to the conversation of the news anchors. 

He wasn’t sure how long he had sat there like that, before he heard the turning of a key. By now, he was vastly more relaxed, however he did snap his head towards the door. Casey pushed open his front door, and looked rather surprised in all honesty. He looked Shredder up and down for a few moments, tilting his head to the side and glancing around the rest of the room. Shredder tensed slightly, suddenly worried he misunderstood the note earlier and that Casey didn’t actually mean it. He cleared his throat.

“Why are you so surprised I’m still here? You said I could stay if I wished, so I am.” He said, trying to add any sass to his voice that he could, hopefully masking his worry. Casey blinked at him for a moment, before shrugging and tossing his golf bag off to the living room area.

“S’ not that, I’m jus’ surprised you actually took me up on my offer. Was more surprised to see ya’ in my kitchen, thought you’d still be asleep.” Shredder relaxed, his fears momentarily quelled.

“I did for a bit, but then I needed more painkillers.”

“Got it got it”, Casey nodded, turning to close the door behind him. “That in mind, ya want breakfast?”