Title: Two Ants
Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Casey/April
Rating: PG-13/T for implied sexual content
Summary: April remembers fondly.
Word Count: 614
Written For: Fan FlashWorks 492. Wrench. Also fulfills 100 Ships 83. Scarlet
Date Written: 29 September 2025
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.






It's just a quick flash of silver, but it catches her eyes immediately -- and for once, not because she's curious about a story. Instead, the old farmer with wrench in hand working on his old truck reminds her instantly of another story, her own story and one of her favorite chapters.

She ducks her head and hurries her steps, hoping no one notices the heat rising in her cheeks to match the color of her hair. She's just one of a million ants here in New York. Nobody on this street cares about her. No one cares to know her name or her story. They don't even care that she's on the nightly news. This is probably the only city left in America where she can still be just one of the worker ants with no one caring about her. She does have people who care now, have had them for a few decades now, but they'll never walk out in the open daylight with these people or any other.

She glances back at the farmer and his old, blue truck, remembering another truck and a much younger, and more handsome, man. She's heard from the Turtles in the last few hours. She hears from them nearly every day. But Casey -- April smiles through the scarlet of her blush, a sheen in her eyes. Ah, Casey! Now there's a man even wilder than the Turtles and as out of place wherever he goes as the farmer in the Big Apple! There is the man who stole her heart with a wrench in his hand, a cocky grin, and a determination every bit as strong as her own.

A determination to care for her unlike any one else she's ever known. She wonders if he ever realized the feelings were mutual, that she too wants to care for him no matter how difficult he makes it.

She has a new mission suddenly, one she'll set into motion as soon as she finishes tonight's broadcast. She may not be able to find Casey, but there's one who can, one who can find anything or person. She'll annoy Donnie tonight, and bribe him with his own pizza pie too, until he blurts out Casey's location. She knows he knows where he is, because Donnie cares about them all just as she does.

April twists suddenly and walks back to the farmer. She grasps the top one of his shiny, red apples and drops a twenty in where he's working with a smile and a wink. It's not just for the apple, or because she sees an old man who reminds her of her grandfather down on his luck. It's a thank you for the trip down Memory Lane and all that is to come.

They'll find Casey. They'll bring him home, and maybe this time, he'll finally let her care for him as the damn fool deserves. April's smiling brilliantly, her lips as red as the apple, as she goes in to record the news. She won't be lonely much longer, even top side. There's one human left in this world for whom she still genuinely cares, perhaps even more, and she's going after him. Soon, there'll be two ants in her life here in the Big Apple.

Soon, she'll have Casey back, and maybe this time, he won't find her quite so hard to get, or to keep by his side, in his arms, and maybe even in his bed. A door creaks somewhere in the Channel Six building, and April shines as she finishes her last bite and remembers the busy creaking of a certain porch swing somewhere in the countryside just outside New York.



The End