What are friends for, right?

“What are you doing?” It comes out muffled, and he can’t see… and then he feels it. “Alopex—!”

His head pops back out immediately, expression wrinkled in disgust as he scowls at Alopex, trying to pull his hand away so he can go ahead and rub it off on her fur, or her face. Whichever’s closer.

“EW EW EW—”

“You got what was coming to you, Seb!” The fox howled with laughter as the turtle struggled against her hold, but she wouldn’t stop him from pulling away completely. He was so cute when he got flustered, so how could she resist?

However, she would take her chance when he was trying to rub his hand off on her, and steal a kiss to the top of his head.

“Are you kidding me? I’m New York born and raised— I know this city like the back of my hand. I could find you anywhere.” Big talk for a turtle who grew up underground and mostly knew the city through google maps, but Alopex didn’t need to know that. Seb just smiles at her, digging his chopsticks back into his takeout box.

“If anything, I should be the one teaching you how to hide… it might make your life easier if you ever need to catch a break from Xever and his little circus ring..”

“I know how to hide when I need to, Seb..” She paused to pick up one of the containers, opening it up to look at the contents inside, “..but it makes it harder down the road. If I don’t keep myself available, I become a liability.”

“Oh you know, the usual— I’m just asking for trouble, and that the bad ol’ fox is going to rip me to shreds one of these days.” He rolls his eyes. Instead of sitting beside her though, Seb spots a milk crate nearby and goes to nudge it back over to their little area so it would be easier for him to sit.

“They still don’t believe that it was actually me who beat you the first night we met, by the way.” He unties the bag, beginning to open up the little boxes of food so Alopex could see what he’d brought. For Seb though, he was going to fill up on some of that omurice. “And I found you because you always come to this area. Very predictable.”

“Well we could always give them a round two, stage a show and everything.. But I think I know better now then to underestimate you,” she giggled, “Not that I don’t think you could beat me.. All that fancy work you do with those crutches, and ninja moves.. I’m just a street fox.”

Her ears perked giving a small wiggle as she examined the food, picking up one of the containers with an excited rumble. She was so hungry, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had something that smelled this good.

“It’s not like I asked to be raised in a sewer,” He quips back, sticking out his tongue as he grabs his crutches to help him stand, studying her as he does. With all the fur it’s hard to see just how badly she’s injured, but her demeanor makes it at least clear that it hasn’t been an easy night for her.

In response to the bag, Sebastian says, “It’s Murakami’s. Remember the noodle shop I was telling you about last time? I thought you might want to try— it’s really good.”

Food first, talk after.

“Murakami, eh? I’ve heard of that place,” Alopex mused, taking a seat away from the ledge of the building where they could comfortably set up without worrying about being seen. She propped her back against the wall of the rooftop stairwell, setting the bag down for Seb to dig through.

“That wasn’t necessarily a jab at where you live.. This food smells wonderful,” she hummed, waiting for Seb to join her sitting down.

She doesn’t get to mope around for very long before there’s the sound of plastic rustling behind her. A bag of takeout appears on the other end of the rooftop, and a moment later, one teal masked turtle tossing up his crutches so he can finish pulling himself up and over the ledge.

“You’re way too easy to find, you know.” He says by way of invitation, smirking at Alopex. “Hope you’re starving like I am.”

“Seb?” At first Alopex as prepared to get up from her spot and help him up, but when he seemed to have little difficulty pulling himself up to her level, she paused, and greeted him with a tired smile.

“Trust me, if I was actually hiding, you’d have the worst time trying to find me with how smelly you are,” she teased him with a soft chuckled, reaching for the plastic bag so he could move for his crutches.

“I’m not opposed, no!” He definitely noticed that she wasn’t using her usual nicknames—something that left him feeling a sense of dread. “It’s just that— uh, y’know, when you’ve been the baby of the family for so long, you start wanting more, um, freedom. B-But of course, if you think I’m not ready for that, you’re completely right, as usual, right ‘Pex?”

Hopefully his nickname for her would be seen as a peace offering. If not, then he wasn’t sure he’d even make it to see his late teens.

“Oh Sebby,” Alopex mused, reaching one paw out to pat the top if his head, moving it to his cheek to give a small, but playful pinch.

“Wait, wait, wait, don’t go putting words in my mouth, when the fuck did I say that?”

“Well that just sucks.”

“Even if I grow to be five seven and get huge biceps and a deep voice?”

“Yeeeah, but turtles get wrinkly when they’re old, like the one from Kung Fu Panda. I don’t think that’s ‘baby boy’ material.”

“You know turtles live longer than foxes, right?”

“Alo,” comes the muffled whine, but like always, Seb just huffs and leans into the embrace. He’d tried dodging her affections before– it hadn’t worked. “I was an hour away from breaking my cooties day quarantine.”

“Sebastiano~” She lightly scolded him, gently patting the top of his head.