raph hates that don makes him feel that way, sometimes, like the two of them are kindred spirits. he's nothing like don. don is incredible, unstoppable, a carefully guarded secret weapon that only he and his brothers can keep. he's always going to be around to save the day, to figure out the hard stuff, to get the job done.
raph doesn't get it.
and then don chuckles. it's interesting, he says, that he's described exactly how don feels about raph.
but raph still doesn't get it. he probably never will.
There are so many good brotherly moments between each of the turtles across all TMNT media, but I have a soft spot for any and all interactions between Raph and Donnie, as they’re my favorites. Discussing the Image run with yesterday reminded me of one particular scene from issue #16 that I remember elicited an actual physical reaction from me (something that I rarely do while reading), and decided to share it as it’s probably not a well known moment.
So, this post will contain spoilers for the Image comic (Urban Legends) as the scene in question is tied to the resolution of a major plot point, so I’m going to cut the post here just in case. Read on if you don’t care about spoilers and want some Raph and Don cuteness! Context for the scene will be included too, just in case you are not familiar with the comic.
As a huge fan of Raph and Donnie’s dynamic in the 2003 series, this scene in the Image comic had me squawking. I really wasn’t expecting any cute, soft moments considering the over all dark, gritty, edgy vibe the writers were clearly going for, but that’s probably what made the scene so impactful for me.
Anyway, getting to it, poor Donnie has a tough time of it from issue one, and has died a few times by now. Actually, so much that Leo seems to just be apathetic about it but that is a post for another time. But, all that dying has left Donnie traumatized and afraid of returning to the astral plane, something they now have to voluntarily do in order to save Splinter, who was turned into a crazy, rabid bat-thing that has no memory of the turtles.
Donnie finally agrees and Raph tries to reassure him by saying he’ll protect him, even though just before he was kind of jeering him for being scared. He’s such a good brother. Yeah, he’ll give them a hard time (Raph bawking like a chicken at Mikey while dressed as the Shredder will never not be hilarious to me), but he can read them really well. He knows that to Donnie this is one of the scariest, most difficult things he’s had to do, and with Leo’s focus being on saving Splinter rather than Donnie’s fear, Raph steps in to provide that little reassurance and support that Donnie clearly needs.
Then, once in the astral plane, things start going south with Donnie being attacked by crazy-bat Splinter, who is afraid of the turtles from his many encounters with Don who had been trying to contact him from the astral plane while dead by basically ‘haunting his dreams’.
Raph is ready to throw down to keep his promise to Donnie because as Leo clarifies, if you die in the astral plane, you die in real life. However, not long after Splinter corners Donnie again and destroys his bo staff.
But, Raph saves the day again at the last minute. And he calls Donnie SQUIRT! I can’t! It’s too cute!
Raph is such a good big brother even if he is a bit of an ass sometimes, and he really looks after them and takes their fears and concerns seriously when they are obviously distressed. And even though he spends the majority of this series living independently from his family and following his own path, he always has his brother’s backs above all else.
Plus, BONUS cute Raph and Splinter moment right after:
Soft Raphael is the best Raphael!
So, if you made it this far, thank you for reading my rambling thoughts, and please leave your own rambling thoughts on this moment, or just your own personal favorite brother moment in TMNT history. I want to gush over all cute turtle brother moments!!!
I received a request for Raph/Don #27 for the Valentine’s Day prompts. I don’t have as much practice writing this pairing, so it was a bit more challenging but still lots of fun!
Donatello was tired. He had been working all day. Staring hard at the computer and formulas across his screen. He gathered that his brothers had gone to bed as the lair was eerily silent. He rubbed his large three-fingered hand across his forehead and pulled the purple fabric off his face.
On his way to bed, he stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. Drinking the cool liquid he realized how parched he had been. Donatello grimaced internally his brothers were always urging him to eat better, sleep more, and to generally take care of himself. Raph was especially vocal about it. Speaking of the red banded turtle, Donny wondered if he would be waiting for him in bed.
He pushed open the door to his room, but found it empty. Donny was slightly disappointed. He enjoyed crawling in bed next to Raph at the end of a long day. The burly turtle would wrap his arms around Don and only then would the genius' brain shut down.
Donny set his almost empty bottle of water next to bed and was about to sweep back his blankets when he noticed a small box on the bed. No bigger than the palm of his hand. He found himself smiling as he reached for the box and opened the lid. Inside was a small amber stone and inside a perfectly petrified bug. Donny held the stone up to try and catch the light, but his room was so dark it was a useless endeavor.
"So what'cha think?" came the voice from behind him. Donatello jumped and spun around. His brother was standing next to the door, hidden by the shadows. He should have sensed him, but Donny had been so tired and focused on 'bed' that he had not.
"It's beautiful," Donny admitted as Raph drew close. "But… why did you give me this?" Raph wrapped his arms around Donatello from behind and pressed his chin onto his brother's shoulder.
"When we were little, ya used to have a collection with rocks and bones and a bunch'a other stuff, remember?" Raph said against his cheek. "And ya used to pretend to be some scientist guy digging up stuff like that. You'd dress up and try to get all of us to help ya on your expeditions or whateva'." He chuckled. "Anyway, April said she found it at some antique store and when I saw it, I wanted to give it to ya."
Donnie remembered. He smiled softly, recalling days of playing in the sewers with his brothers, imagining all the possibilities of their lives and not yet really understanding the limitations of what it meant to be different.
"I can't believe you remember that," Donny said still turning the small rock in his hands. They were so little then. His collection of "precious" items was lost during one of the first destructions of the lair and he never really thought about recovering it. Donny figured he had to focus on more important things than collecting silly items. He would never be a paleontologist, or any other -gist anyway.
"Course I remember," Raph answered. "Ya always put me in charge of Mikey and Leo and I got ta tell them what ta do," he smiled smugly before dragging Donny down onto the bed with him.
"Wait!" Donny exclaimed and placed the amber rock next to his water bottle on the nightstand. Once it was safe, the purple banded turtle turned to his brother to show him how much he appreciated the gesture.
