The Almighty Puckhead.

Just a quick (and adorable) lesson in validating people’s interests; especially if they seem insecure about them.

Her bad. Her colossal, totally avoidable bad.

–[☠]– Ah-- jeez. Not that face. Anything but that face. Even  if Casey was used to seeing April with that worried expression of hers, this instance was different from the others. He knew why. Casey very, very rarely pushed her away. The only times it happened was if she tried to disinfect his ‘ouchies’ before sitting on him or tying him to the nearest chair to do it. Even then, it was more of a childish game or a reflex more than it was, well... defensive. Casey was never defensive towards  April. Not seriously, anyway. Never seriously. “ No, it’s just-- ” Just what? A secret? A hidden memory? Something he desperately wanted to forget? It wasn’t the scar itself, of course. Nor the vague, skewed images and half-baked explanations that lead up to it. What it caused was what bruised Casey’s pride. April finding out about it, well... she was too smart. She’d piece together what was wrong in a minute flat. His reaction didn’t help that, either. “ Look, April, you got a lot t’ worry about as it is. ’Specially when it comes t’ me-- knowin’ about this... it aint gonna help. ”  He sighed, pursing his lips for a moment. She wanted to pry. He didn’t want to leave her in the dark. Doing that just meant she’d be up all night trying to figure out what the heck was wrong and uncomfortable silences and-- the words fell out quicker than he could stop them. “ It happened a few years back, uh... y’know, when I first joined th’ hockey team back in ninth. I uh-- well, they didn’t really explain what happened t’ me all that well n’ I still don’t remember much of that whole week, to be honest--” And then some, considering he was knocked cold for nearly a month. “But I guess somethin’ hit me or I hit the ice too hard and... Well, skulls ain’t invincible.” His hands twiddled nervously behind his hoodie’s fabric.  “ So... uh... ‘M fine now, though. I mean, we could just pretend it was ‘cause of Voldemort or somethin’ instead.”

“You know you can’t keep me in here forever, Jones.” “I dunno, Red. I’m a pretty determined guy.”

❝ Please tell me you, like—ran into a table when you were a kid… ❞

He thought she knew. That maybe someone else had told her or she’d done some sleuthing but-- no. Of course not. When was he ever lucky like that? “ Just ignore it, alright? ”

❝ Come back here, you noodle. I TOLD you we were doing game night, so we’re doing game night. But you’re grounded. I’m grounding you. I can do that. ❞

–[☠]– Hah. Gets her every time. “ Pfft, you can’t ground the Almighty Casey Jones. He’s almighty-- that’s th’ rules, Red. Plus, what’re you even gonna ground me from? You n’ Raph are my only friends and I’m gonna be playing video games with you. ”

❝ –––– Get out of my apartment? ❞

–[☠]– He unhands her bodacious booty, giving a nonchalant shrug. “I mean, okay. If you say so. Guess I’ll just go take th’ super nintendo I fixed back home n’ play Mario by myself. See ya later, April. ”

–[☠]– “ You gotta say the magic words, Red. ”