"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!" April pulled on the thick bicep, its owner refusing to budge.
"No. Uh-uh. No way." Raphael vowed to stand firm in his decision. Then he made the mistake of directly looking into those pleading cerulean irises. Sighing with resignation, he gruffed, "I still don't agree with this."
April squealed in delight, knowing she'd won. Pale hands clasped together in excitement. "Great! I've already gotten Mikey on board to make the dinner."
The emerald decreased as his pupils enlarged. "Seriously? You've already recruited my brother? What would you have done if I said no?"
Fingertips fluttered down his strong jaw line. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."
Closing his eyes, he leaned into her soft caress. "Six o'clock?"
"Let's make it five," she smiled.
"Hey, Leo, if you're not busy, I was hoping you could help me perfect hoko no koto." The red-banded turtle shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.
Steel blue eyes remained glued to the glowing screen of the television, flickering from near constant channel changing. "You mean hoko no kamae?"
"Yeah, yeah. That one."
Leonardo paused with the remote held mid air and raised one eye ridge at him, skeptical. "Why the sudden interest?"
Raphael scratched the back of his neck. "Are ya really gonna make me beg?"
Leonardo stretched both arms over his head while eying his brother warily. Nothing good was on t.v. anyway, and he was starting to ache from the indentation his laziness was impressing upon the couch.
Open palms slammed against the back of the upholstery, jolting him. "Geeze, Fearless, I thought you'd jump at the chance to show me how much better you are than me at squatting bear stance."
"It's waiting bear stance. Why would you want to be a squatting bear?" His slow smile revealed that he was ribbing his brother and enjoying it.
Raphael, however, was not amused and could not control the anger inflating his voice with volume. "Squatting, waiting, farting, burping, whatever! Are ya gonna help me or not?!"
"Well, since you asked so nicely ..."
The red banded turtle was tempted to smack the smirk off blue's face, but he was on a mission. He'd have to keep his temper in check - for now. He placed firm hands on his brother's shoulders and nudged him toward the dojo. "Great, let's go."
The glow from the candles made him gasp in surprise; the way they echoed off the facial features of the girl kneeling at the low table took his breath away. Leonardo's jaw dropped in amazement as he absorbed the ambiance of the room. "What ... what's going on?"
Heavy palms put pressure on the leader's shoulders until his knee pads connected with the floor. "Relax, Fearless. Enjoy."
Karai smirked as she tucked one onyx tendril behind her ear. "Oh, great, another unwilling participant."
April placed a set of chopsticks in front of each of her friends. "Chef Mikey will be out in a minute with dinner."
As if on cue, Michelangelo happily skipped into the dojo, effortlessly balancing a multitude of items on a crowded bamboo tray, complete with icy companion. His white, poufy hat flopped to the side as he set the heavy item down, revealing a grease-stained tangerine and ivory striped apron.
"Master Splinter will be upset we're eating in the dojo," Leonardo frowned.
The youngest brother ignored his protests, humming as he set two slightly chipped, mismatched bowls on the table, along with two glasses of water. "Ice Cream Kitty, will you do the honors? Ice them!"
"Mrow!" Leonardo wrinkled his snout as a vanilla paw dropped three ice cubes into his glass. A milky hue floated in the clear liquid.
"Heh, heh, whoops. Let me go get you some fresh drinks. Meanwhile - " he paused so he could dramatically reveal the main meal, "yosenabe for two!" He held the silver dome proudly as he showed off his efforts.
"Wow, Mikey, this looks - and smells - really good." Leonardo inhaled the aroma wafting from the colorful mix of seafood, egg, and veggies.
"Eh, it's okay. Looks edible at least." Karai attempted to come off as indifferent, but Leonardo could see she was impressed with his brother's culinary skills.
Michelangelo scooped up the frosty feline and retreated to the kitchen. April glanced at Raph. "So ... we've got that, uh, thing to do. Let's go!" Her small hands pressed against grooved shell to push him out of the dojo.
Leonardo nervously cleared his throat before looking at his forced date. "Karai, I apologize for this ambush. I had no idea-"
She silenced him with a raised hand. "I know." Looking around the room, she was taken in by the effort put into creating the romantic atmosphere. She picked up the chopsticks, rubbing the wooden sticks against one another. "Well, they did go through a lot of trouble to set this all up. I guess sharing a meal with you wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."
"Hey!" Leonardo protested to twinkling amber eyes.
She gave him a slight hint of a smile and wink before intertwining her hands, bowing her head. "Itadakimas."
With a rosy pink tinging the jade, Leonardo respectfully bowed as well. "Itadakimas."
April and Raphael spied on the duo, mostly concealed by the door frame.
"Oh, those two are so cute!" April gushed.
Raphael rolled his eyes. "I don't know why you're encouraging this. She still could turn out to be our sister."
She reached up to playfully smack his plastron. "Oh, hush."
Raphael smiled as he watched how giddy April was that her surprise had come to fruition. She was absolutely beaming watching his brother and Karai as they made their way though an awkwardly forced meal. Their conversation broke into shared laughter and Raphael felt his heart swell. Maybe he shouldn't be so hard on Leo about his thing for Karai. His brother really liked the dangerous kunoichi. And perhaps she would come around, now that she knew the truth about her parentage and who her real enemies were. He glanced down at April and ruffled her ginger locks.
She turned her head, flashing a toothy smile at the deep green turtle. "So, when are we going to have our date night?"
Summary: Raph wakes up to the distinct smell of damp, musky cement and an uncomfortably familiar burn around his wrists.
notes: i spent almsot 2 weeks writing this and ended up posting it let anyway bc formatting. OTL
read it on ao3!
+
Raph wakes up to the distinct smell of damp, musky cement and an uncomfortably familiar burn around his wrists.
He forces his eyes open and recoils at the immediate headache that comes as a result--wherever he is isn’t brightly lit but it’s still too bright for his eyes to adjust immediately. He tries to stand, and even if his knees weren’t wobbling so badly, the chains around his ankles would’ve stopped him short. And, now that he thinks about it, the burn on his wrists is rope burn, and sure enough their bound together too.
Christ, he thinks, dropping his head back to rest on the cement wall, what happened?
While trying to recollect the night’s memories, he feels around for his sai--and panic only well and truly hits him when he realizes he doesn’t have them. Or, rather, that someone took them. A ninja never loses his weapon. Despite his headache, he can still imagine Splinter’s sharp, chiding voice drilling that rule into his head.
Raph mumbles a curse under his breath and shuts his eyes. He’ll just rest for a second, that figure all this shit out--
“Raph?”
His whole body jolts into an upright position; it’s too dark to see much but he looks around anyway. “April?”
“Raph? Raph! Oh thank god.”
April’s voice sounds close, but Raph can’t see a damn thing. It doesn’t matter--he slides across the ground, ignoring the slime sticking to his legs as he goes, trying to get to her voice. “Ape? Where are we? The hell’s going on?”
“We got separated from the others,” she says, “and things get a little fuzzy after that, but I think Tiger Claw eventually got us. At least, I assume it’s him; none of the Shredder’s other goons could leave claw marks like this…”
“Claw marks?” Raph echoes. “He scratched you?”
“After I punched him in the face, yeah.”
“Shit, is it bad? Are you bleeding?”
There’s a pause, and in the damp darkness the sound of April shifting echoes. “Eh, not anymore. Thankfully it’s under my shirt, so the fabric soaked up most of the blood.” As if sensing his rising rage, she quickly adds, “I’m okay now, though. I promise.”
Raph doesn’t reply, too busy trying to slow his ragged breaths as his temper flares just enough to set him off. Sure, he’s probably hurt somewhere too, and a concussion to boot, but April’s had the good favor of escaping most of these battles unscathed and the fact that Tiger Claw got his disgusting claws on her makes his blood churn. And he can’t even see the wound, can’t even help her dress it because he doesn’t know where the fuck he is.
“Raph?” April’s voice is verging on panic. “Raph?”
“I’m here, I’m here,” he grumbles. There are metal bars from the floor to the ceiling that make up one wall, and the other three are just cement. Raph shoulders one and winces; yup, totally solid. “Where the hell is here, by the way?”
“I wish I knew,” says April, her voice dropped so quiet it’s hard to hear, even in the silence. “A dungeon or something? I don’t know; the Shredder’s got all kind of medieval shit up his sleeve. It wouldn’t surprise me.”
The dungeon. Where the Shredder--that fucking madman--kept Karai, back before he mutated her. It’s got the same rank smell, the same damp darkness; in fact, now that he thinks about it, the dim light is coming from the few lit lanterns by what has to be the entrance.
He doesn’t start panicking until he realizes he doesn’t have his phone.
Shitshitshit--
“April, do you have your--”
“T-phone? No. They took ‘em before they locked us in here.”
“So,” says Raph, unwanted fear rising in his throat, “we’re on our own here?”
“Yeah. We are.”
Shit.
+
Raph jolts awake, disoriented all over again, and makes an ill attempt to lift his arms. He hisses through clenched teeth when his shoulders cramp up in response, and his tied up hands stay put tightly behind his back.
He’s still in the relative darkness, still alone in the cement cell, except by the iron bars there’s something gleaming in the low light and he hates how scared he is when he realizes it’s Oruku Saki.
The first time Raph and his brothers faced the Shredder, Raph thought he was going to die, and it scared him silly. It scared them all. The Shredder was some inhuman creature of massive strength and speed and impossible ability. But Raph had gotten better since then, and when he was with his brothers, he had enough strength to face Saki without so much as twitch.
But right now, Raph is not with his brothers.
He’s alone in a dark cell.
Even though it doesn’t seem like it, Saki is just a human, but even then he can probably hear the painfully loud thump thump thump of Raph’s heart as it threatens to break right through his chest.
“You’re awake,” Shredder observes after a pregnant pause, barely moving. It’s hard to see if his chest is even moving with the rise and fall of his breaths.
Raph doesn’t make a sound.
“I have questions for you, turtle. The faster you talk, the swifter your death will be. I will see to that myself.”
Raph takes in shuddering breath. “Well, shit, I feel comforted. Thanks.”
Shredder tilts his head slightly. “There is no need for baseless false strength. I can sense your fear, and your friend’s as well.”
Raph tenses all over, muscles drawing taut and he forces himself to fake calm as he grits out, “I swear if you hurt her, I’ll shove my sai so far up your ass you’ll be able to taste it.”
Laughter shouldn’t make him flinch, but when the Shredder does it, Raph rears back as if he’s been hit.
“Disrespect. Impertinence. Is this what Yoshi has instilled in you? The worst of himself?” Saki laughs again, and Raph doesn’t breathe a damn word, so he continues, “April O’Neil is still alive. If you would like to keep it that way, you will answer my questions.”
“Let me see her,” Raph demands.
“Where is my daughter? Where is Karai?”
Anger flashes in him so quickly it makes his vision go spotty. But he bites his tongue and repeats his demand, “Let me see April.”
“I know you located Karai. Tell me where she is.”
“Listen, I can’t remember shit right now, since your damn housecat got loose and knocked me out. Even I did know where Karai is, I can’t tell you because I can’t fucking remember.” Stall, Raph, stall. “Now let me see April.”
Shredder slams a fist against the bars, and the horrible clatter reverberates in the dungeon and Raph’s skin goes clammy. “Do you think you are in the position to make demands, Raphael?”
“Don’t ever,” Raph hisses, desperately trying to keep himself from exploding, “say my name again.”
“I shall do as I please as long as you are bound and on your knees, Raphael.”
“Strike two, you fucking creep,” Raph spits. “Wanna go for a third?”
“You are far more ignorant than I assumed,” Shredder says acerbically.
“And you’re a lot more of an asshole up close.”
The Shredder doesn’t breathe a word. He checks the huge padlock on the iron bars, then turns briskly and walks out of the dungeon.
Raph’s not sure how much time goes by until April’s quiet voice calls out to him.
“Ape? You’re still there?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m here.” She sounds groggy. “I think they drugged me.”
“Are you okay?”
“Just a headache,” she says. “And really bad cotton mouth. But I’m good.”
“Good, good,” Raph says and genuinely means it. “Shredder just hit me with the scariest game of 20 questions in all of history. If he tries that with you: stall, don’t tell him anything, okay? Just let him get worked up and leave.”
“I can do that.”
“Of course you can,” he says, and grins weakly. “You’re one helluva personality, April. Shredhead doesn’t know what he’s messing with, between the two of us.”
“The two most stubborn people in the whole state?” she ventures. “We can hold him off. Long enough for the others to get us out of here.”
“Hell yeah.”
Even though he can’t see her, just hearing the sound of her voice is enough to get him through this.
He’ll make it.
+
Shredder comes back, what Raph assumes is tomorrow. He has a lantern with him this time, which he hangs up on a hook beside the bars, and that purely impassive look on his face.
Raph imagines his cell isn’t cold and empty. He imagines Leo and Donnie and Mikey beside him.
“I will ask you more questions. If I deem your answers satisfactory, perhaps Fishface will remember to bring you a meal today.”
Raph doesn’t say anything.
“Where is my daughter?”
“...”
“Where is Karai?”
He groans out loud, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated motion. “Are you deaf? I told you, I don’t know.”
Shredder is silent for a long time. He looks directly at the lantern, which is disconcerting purely because the light doesn’t seem to affect his vision in the slightest, as it would any other human.
“Raphael,” and Raph winces and the sound of his name, “have you ever lost someone you love?”
The question catches him off guard, but he recovers well enough. “The fuck does a monster like you know about love?”
“If you had,” Saki continues, as if Raph hadn’t spoken, “you would understand why I am so desperate to find my daughter.”
“Dude -- for the love of-- she’s not yours. Leave her alone. You ever think that maybe, if she wanted to be with you, she’d come find you? Instead of doing her best to get the hell away from you?”
Shredder’s armor rattles--did he breathe? Did he shudder? Raph can’t tell.
“Do you care for April O’Neil?”
Raph knows his reaction to this is important; he can’t deny it, Shredder wouldn’t buy that for a second. “Don’t ask stupid questions,” he spits out instead.
“So then, you understand the importance of her safety and wellness? Does it infuriate you, to be in here without her, unable to ensure she is well?”
“Did you do something to her?” Raph asks immediately. “What did you do? Let me see her--let me see her right now.”
“I have told you already, your April is fine. You have no children, I do not expect you to understand the relationship between a father and child. But imagine the love you feel for her--imagine she was lost and you had it within your power to find her. Imagine the pain. Would you not do anything it took to bring her back?”
Your April and love are circling his head like an awful song. Raph wonders if she’s drugged again, or if part of his torture is having her awake and listening to this.
“Ya know what I think? I think, if April really felt the need to dump my ass and never look back, I probably deserved it.” It happened once, anyway, and just briefly remembering that pain made Raph’s whole heart ache.
Shredder snorts. “Your naivety is the only thing stopping me from putting an end to your insolence. Have caution, Raphael. I am not so desperate for conversation that I will tolerate your disrespect for much longer.”
He stands, and takes the lantern with him. “I am done, for now. Enjoy your meal.”
He’s barely gone before Fishface is there, sliding a bowl of rice through the space between the bars.
“What, no chopsticks?” Raph growls, somewhere close to a hysterical laugh, because honestly, he expected a lot of things from Shredder, but a bowl of rice for his bound-and-interrogated prisoner was almost too much.
Fishface throws them at his head. Obviously, wrists still bound behind his back, Raph can’t pick them up. But he appreciates the sentiment.
He’s not proud of how he eats the rice--on his knees, face down in the bowl like a dog--but he didn’t realize how hungry he was. Which means at least 24 hours have passed and he and April are still down here. Still stuck.
Still waiting.
+
This time, when Raph wakes up, he hauls himself up just in time to retch by the wall. Nothing comes up, but not for lack of trying--he’s just metabolized the rice so quickly there’s nothing left in his stomach. But his lips feel too thick and his head aches and he wishes he could throw up, just for some kind of relief.
“Oh, yeah,” says April, faintly, “the drugs do that.”
“...the rice?” Raph hates how weak his voice sounds.
“Yup. 100% drugged. I’ve gotten two doses now. That’s probably your first.” She snorts. “It’s only that bad the first time.”
He just groans and shifts on to his side, breathing slow. “This sucks.”
“At least I’m awake for you. You were asleep when I went through this.”
“Shredder.” Damn, Raph hates how sick he feels, he can barely talk. “Did he…?”
“He asked me about Karai. I told him I haven’t seen her in months, then I told him to go sit on a cactus.”
Raph laughs outright, even though it makes him feel dizzy and depraved of much needed oxygen.
“I asked to see you,” she adds. There’s a heavy pause before she continues, “Demanded, more like. After he was finished calling me insolent, he said he’d think about it.”
“Probably a lie,” Raph manages. “Maybe a trick.”
“Yeah, but what’s it mean? What’s he getting at here?”
“No clue.” He grins. “Keep driving him crazy though, at least we can have that.”
April laughs, a sad sound that’s almost instantly swallowed up in the dark. “I like that plan.”
+
He gets another bowl of drugged rice an indeterminable amount of time later. And he’s so hungry, he eats it anyway.
When he wakes up, he’s thrown into another session with Shredder. Despite feeling groggy and sick, all he does is demand to see April.
It must drive Saki up the wall. Every question is met with another irate demand: “Let me see her, let me see her, let me see her….”
At last, he stands, frustrated but too full of himself to ever show it. Raph watches smugly as he collects his lantern and briskly strides out.
Snidely, over his shoulder, Shredder says, “I’ve assured that your April is alive, but if you insist on seeing her, I will have that arranged.”
Raph reels. That worked? He’s never been in a hostage situation this long, but he really didn’t think being the mouse in this game would allow for his demands to be met--
“But not,” says Shredder, “without a price.”
And he leaves.
Time passes. It’s impossible to tell how long without the sun or a clock or anything but thick shadows all around, but time passes and then the door Shredder left from opens wide and Tiger Claw strolls in, dragging something behind him. He slides the bars over, opening Raph’s cell, and tosses in April’s limp body.
“Your girlfriend, as you requested,” he says, smirking, and slams the bars close again.
Raph waits until he’s gone to rush to April’s side--a nearly impossible task, since his skin started to buzz the second he saw her. But he shuffles on his knees and looks her up and down, bile rising in his throat as he takes in the bruises covering her pale skin.
Her face seems to have suffered worse. She’s got an awful shiner on her left eye, a few scratches and smaller bruises littered across her cheeks. Across her stomach are four clear claw marks, barely hidden beneath the shredded fabric of her shirt.
He can’t stop the roll of curses that come out of his mouth. He leans forward to press his head to her chest, listening for any sign of life anything at all--
She’s breathing. Thank the fucking gods, at least she’s breathing.
Raph can’t do anything with his hands literally tied; the best he can do is work her head into his lap, and wait.
His head hurts and so does the rest of him, and in an effort to not lose his mind he goes over the past interactions with Saki, trying to find his game. All he can think about is how he keep saying your April and the terror that comes with that. If Saki suspects anything about how he feels about April, it’s nightmarish to even imagine what he might do with that information.
In fact, this is probably a warning. April, beaten and bruised, tossed about like a rag. Saki probably thinks that if Raph is really in love with her, this’ll be his breaking point.
Well. He’s only half right.
April slowly stutters to life, coughing and hacking and shuddering breaths, and Raph waits and waits until she can sit up, wincing as she strains through her pain.
“April…” he says quietly, and he doesn’t have the strength to be embarrassed about how much emotion he let slip.
“I--I’m okay.” It takes more than one try for her to get the words out. “It’s not that bad. My ribs and limbs are all intact. I think he only went for my face.”
It’s not comforting in the slightest, but Raph pretends it is. He also pretends to not be elated when she drags him into a tight hug--he notices her hands are free, and makes a note to exploit that.
For now, he buries his face into her neck and wishes he could hug her back.
+
“He was so eager to hit me he didn’t even notice when he broke the chains,” April explains. She’s behind Raph, freeing his hands. He wishes her touch wasn’t so light--he’s still reeling from seeing her so still and broken...he just wants to touch-to reassure himself she’s okay.
“Lucky break for us.”
“Oh yeah,” she snorts, “lucky is the word I’d use to describe us.”
“Tryna be optimistic here, Ape.”
“Try harder.” They fall into silence, as April works to pick the lock with the bobby pin she pulled out of her hair. “Listen, Raph. We need a plan. Shredder’s not done with us yet, there’s no way. He’ll be back, and we need to be ready.”
“He’s got this idea,” Raph offers, after serious reluctance. If this situation weren’t so dire--if he weren’t so dirty and filthy and tired, he might still have it in him to hide this from her. But for now, he’s happy to have her with him, he can’t imagine keeping any more secrets than he needs to. “He thinks….”
There’s no easy way to say this.
“He thinks I’m in love with you.”
“Oh,” April says, and her hands still for barely a second before she continues and tries to gloss over it.
He exhales as quietly as possibly, on high alert for her reaction, but she seems to be keeping it together incredibly well. Under lock and key. Now isn’t the time for a confession, especially not one that literally confirms their captor’s seemingly wild theory, but Raph wishes…
Well, there’s no time for wishing now. Just action.
“We can-- we can do something with that,” Raph says in a rush. “He thinks he’s right. If he thinks you’re a weakness for me, maybe I can play him instead.”
“Maybe.”
Her tone makes his heart sink. Even after she successfully undoes the lock, and he at last can rotate some feeling back into his shoulders, Raph feels like a horrible weight’s been dropped directly onto his chest.
+
They make a plan.
Distraction. Get Saki so riled up he can’t even think straight, then bust out after he’s slipped up. Given their record of pissing Shredder off, it should be easy.
The problem is, it might be too easy. If they piss him off too much, they risk death. If they don’t piss him off enough, he might not be distracted enough.
Splinter always talked about balance; it’s about time Raph started to heed his advice.
+
The first session putting their plan into attempt is cut short; Shredder’s barely started his interrogation when he receives a call and departs without saying a word.
April checks the bars. They’re still locked up tight.
“Dammit,” she says. “I didn’t even get a chance to call him buckethead.”
“Next time,” Raph replies reassuringly, and then they wait.
+
The next session, Shredder’s voice booms into the cell and he clutches the bars so hard Raph thinks they might bend, but he leaves abruptly once again--not even turning around when Raph works up a big, wet, glob of spit and hails at his retreating back.
He’s starting to wonder if this plan is going to get them killed before it has a chance to help them escape.
+
Shredder loses his patience during the next session.
“You are together. You have been given food and water. I have met your needs, now you will meet mine,” Saki growls. “I will ask once again: where is my daughter?”
Raph hates their plan. He hates it. Almost as much as he hates Shredder. He hates that he has no choice, hates that he only option is at the bottom of the barrell. Nonetheless, he gives April a sad, tired look that she returns with one of her own.
“Ya know, as far as we’re concerned, you don’t have a daughter,” he says.
“Oruku Karai is my own and you will tell me where she is.”
“You can’t own a person,” April says, “last time that was a thing, we called it slavery and fought a civil war about it. But, if you feel like bringing it back, by all means, go right the hell ahead.”
Shredder levels a glare at her, his gaze so piercing it’s as if he could melt through the iron bars with little more than a glance. “She is mine,” he says again.
“She’s not a possession,” April snaps back, the defensive hunch of her shoulders strangely similar to Leo’s whenever he’s having the same argument. “You act like it kills you on the inside to lose her--but she was never yours in the first place.”
There’s a tense silence, save for Shredder’s ragged breathing, that Raph recognizes as April trying to focus. He glances at her, and sure enough her eyes are closed tight and her lips are pressed tightly together; she’s concentrating, doing everything she can to get something on Shredder, read his emotions or sense his mind or anything, anything at all to piss him off. When she opens her eyes, there’s a certain glint to them, and Raph knows she’s found something.
(He knows April, for the most part, hates her Kraang-given powers. And she must hate that the plan calls for her to use them--but maybe, just maybe, for this instance, she doesn’t mind being an empath all that much.)
“Karai’s not yours and she never was,” April says again, careful with each word. “And neither was her mother. Neither was Tang Shen.”
Shredder doesn’t even give them a warning--he flings open the bars of the cell and storms inside, a flurry of barely-contained rage and rattling armor. April scrambles to get away, whimpering loudly as she prepares herself for his strike, and then Raph shuts his eyes and throws himself in front of her.
The pain from Shredder’s open palm is dizzying. The slap catches him right across the face, whipping his head to the side fast enough that it definitely doesn’t make his concussion any better. Raph ignores the swelling of his cheek and growls low, in the back of his throat.
“Don’t fucking touch her.”
“Very well,” says Shredder, and strikes him again, this time with a closed fist. And again. And again.
This is what April went through before Tiger Claw dragged her into his cell, except she was alone and he never even heard her scream. April is backed up against the far wall and she’s screaming and Raph is too, and only the Shredder is silent in his assault.
"I'm sorry!" April shouts, voice raw. "I'm sorry-- stop hurting him-- Listen to me, I'm so sorry--"
When Shredder’s finally satisfied, Raph’s vision is spotted, and he can taste blood in his mouth.
“I will kill you if you ever speak her name again,” Shredder tells April, plaintively, and surprisingly calm for a man who just finished beating a kid into a pulp. He turns to Raph, who’s slumped over at his feet, curled up and shuddering with waves of pain. “I will kill you first, Raphael, and then your girlfriend can suffer alone.”
“She’s not…” god, he hurts, hurts all over, “she’s not my…”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” April squeaks, with just the right amount of terror and dejectedness in her voice to make it sound completely unbelievable.
Shredder smirks as he leaves.
And, in his satisfaction, forgets to lock the bars to their cell.
April scrambles on all fours to him, whispering gentle words and in a calming voice as she cups his head in her hands. “I never wanna see you get hit like that again. And you just-you just took it, god, you didn’t even move.”
Raph can’t reassure her or do much besides suck in air, so he let’s himself be held, and gives her hand a squeeze by way of apology.
It takes a while for the pain to ebb. Too long. Valuable time.
“I-I think I’m good, now.”
“You look awful,” April tell him, her eyes shining slightly.
“You don’t look much better.”
“That’s not something you say to your girlfriend,” April scolds, eyebrows raised high. Unfortunately, a tear rolls down her cheek, ruining the effect, but Raph gets it anyway. He looks away when she rubs the tear away with the back of her hand, deciding that wiping it away himself would probably just make things worse.
Speaking of worse--he can’t remember the last time he was busted up this badly. It’s a miracle he’s even conscious right now; if he thinks too hard about it, the fact that he hasn’t had more than rice and water for at least a handful of days now makes him want to pass out on the spot.
“When we bust outta here I’ll treat you to a nice dinner,” he promises. “Now let’s get moving.”
April’s got limited vision, thanks to the shiner on her eye, so Raph has to lead them. They slide open the bars together, slowly, carefully, quietly as possible.
Maybe if he didn’t feel like his brain was leaking out his nose, he’d be a little more self-conscious about how easily April fits against him, her arm around his shoulders as he somehow supports both her weight and his own. For now, he’s focused on one thing only: getting the hell out of here. Protect her. Even while his own blood is dribbling down the side of his chin, all Raph can think about is April, digging her fingers into his shell and desperately doing all she can to just hold on.
His lip is busted open, the pain not quite numb, but almost a dull tingle he can pretty much ignore. He takes inventory on all the other injured parts of him; a bump is starting to swell up on his forehead, the skin on his left cheek was ripped open and bleeding--his right wrist hurt from trying to block a hit to the plastron, which at least was successful, even if it made his wrist sore. At least, he hoped it was sore, and not actually broken. Plus the concussion from Tiger Claw.
Leo suffered all this and more--internal shit Raph thankfully doesn’t have to deal with--and lived, so Raph steels himself and resolves to do the same
“Raph--”
April’s voice is practically shaking, and he can’t tell why. They haven’t even made it out of the dungeon yet. But she’s pointing forward, and her hand is shaking, and when Raph follows her finger his blood runs cold.
“Where,” says Tiger Claw, with a crack of his knuckles, “do you think you’re going?”
Raph can’t think because he’s brain’s still swimming but he has enough sense to push April behind him and set his feet in a solid stance. On one hand, taunting Tiger Claw is one of his favorite things to do. But on the other, he’s already on the brink and doesn’t want to push Tiger Claw any further.
So he keeps his mouth shut tight.
“Did you really think you could escape by walking out the front door?” Tiger Claw laughs. “Turtle, you and your girlfriend are far more stupid than I ever thought possible.”
Raph clenches his fist, but doesn’t say anything. Behind him, April is breathing hard, hot puffs he can feel on his neck. He doesn’t wonder about her injuries, or how underwhelming their plan ultimately was, or that it’ll fail.
Instead, he wonders what it would be like to die with her.
She’s spit in the face of death before--back in North Hampton and even before then--and has never given two shits about the fact he--Raph, and his brothers--make her life a living hell two times out of three. She laughs at him like she’s not afraid of him, because she’s not, and Raph likes that. And she’s got a lot of plans for her future, and never ever, not even once, as she excluded his family from them.
It wouldn’t be so bad to die with her, he thinks.
April makes a tiny sound, a soft sigh that reaches his skin, as if letting him know that she returns the sentiment. (And she might’ve read his emotions, or sensed them, or whatever it is she does. Raph doesn’t care. He’s just grateful for her.)
“I am going to call for the Shredder. He can clean up what I leave of you two.”
It wouldn’t be so bad to die with her, Raph reminds himself, and somehow, that calms him.
Tiger Claw speaks easily into a comm. link on his wrist, and when he lowers his hand he’s practically glowing. Well, he’s a bastard, one who takes pleasure in torturing children, but even if he’s beaten black and blue there’s no way in hell Raph’s gonna go down easy.
“The Shredder’s on his way,” Tiger Claw informs him, sounding very pleased with himself.
Though it hurts to talk with his busted lip, Raph bursts out, “You’re a real piece of shit, you know that?”
He still has April behind him. He doesn’t have any control over the situation, but at least he has that--
He feels her shift. And Tiger Claw surges forward, but when Raph prepares for impact he’s suddenly blocked by red hair and outstretched arms and before him, April takes the brunt of Tiger Claw’s meaty fist.
It gets her in the stomach, and she makes a wet, strangled sound that Raph can barely hear because of the anger pumping in his veins.
She stumbles back a few inches, then takes another hit, this time to the face, and still doesn’t go down. Weakly, she throws a punch at Tiger Claw, but he catches her fist and--
The rest Raph doesn’t see because he shuts his eyes and blindly tackles the other mutant, yelling a sound of pure rage all the while. It hurts him more than it hurts Tiger Claw, but he does drop April, at least.
She stumbles again, and wavers from side to side, then smiles a big, red, wet smile and spits off to the side. Raph glances at her just long enough to get blindsided by a kick, hears something crack, and goes sprawling beside her.
And April fucking laughs.
Raph can hear footsteps, which must be the Shredder, and April is laughing through blood like a madman and he aches from top to bottom, barely able to get to his feet, let alone try to protect April again.
Not that she seems to need it. Her knees wobble but she finds the strength to put up two steady middle fingers, never breaking Tiger’s Claw gaze.
“Get fucking wrecked,” she tells him, and in the same moment, a thousand things seem to happen at once.
The lights go out, and Raph immediately grabs for April, who grabs him back and holds on tight. Then he feels the slightest breeze by him, and a pair of glowing eyes winks in the dark.
Raph has never been so happy to not see his brothers in his whole life.
He hears Tiger Claw grunt, and then someone slides an arm under his shoulders and burdens his weight. “You’re safe now,” and that’s Leo’s voice--and Raph nearly laughs at the sound.
The rest of the rescue happens too fast and it’s too dark and his head hurts too much, but Raph suddenly tastes the crispness of fresh air and sucks it in so fast it makes him dizzy. His right leg is throbbing and is almost completely unresponsive, forcing Leo to bear most of his weight. He’s smiling like an asshole though, and even though he can’t see where April is, by this point he’s gotten into the habit of assuming she’s at his side.
“April. April?”
She’s swept up in Mikey’s arms, bridal style, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m here, Raph.”
Of course you are, he doesn’t say. Instead, he grins, “Guess I owe you dinner, huh?”
And he doesn’t care if his brothers don’t get the joke; for Raph and April, it’s the funniest goddamn thing in the world.
+
Dungeons really fuck with your sense of time, Raph learns later, because it was actually two fucking weeks he and April spent in one, as opposed to the few days he had originally thought.
He takes the news in stride though. Figuratively speaking, of course, since Donnie’s pretty sure his leg’s broken and he’s not really striding anywhere.
Donnie and Leo had constructed something like a hospital bed in the lab, sheets and pillows and all, and had the good sense to keep Raph and April as close together as possible. They aren’t holding hands--April has too many broken fingers for that, and Raph did break his wrist as he’d feared--but they’re as close as they can get under the thin sheet blanket.
They’re clean now. Raph doesn’t remember that part, but he’s thankful for it. Spending fourteen days in his own filth and blood was enough to make him want to hurl for the next three months.
“It’s okay, guys,” April is saying.
Raph blinks. The lights are dim, bless Donnie’s careful attention to detail, and his head is pounding, but Leo and Donnie both look awful. Like, ‘haven’t slept in days’ awful. He can’t see Mikey or Casey or Splinter but he assumes they must look just as bad, if not worse.
“No,” Leo grinds out. “It’s not. It’s unacceptable. We should’ve tried harder to break you out--we should’ve gotten you out two weeks ago, April, how can you say this is okay? You two could’ve--”
“Died?” Raph says, effectively startling Leo.
His big brother casts his eyes downward and doesn’t look up again.
“Well, shit, Leo. You don’t think we can handle two weeks of a little torture?”
April snorts, to Donnie and Leo’s horror.
“She’s right,” Raph says. “It’s fine.”
Donnie tugs at his goggles, snapping them off his face to reveal the tired, sad eyes beneath. “But we should’ve been better. We should’ve--”
“Don, it’s fine!” says April.
“No it’s not--”
“Ugh!” Raph rubs at his face, wincing when he comes in contact with bruises, but it helps clear his eyes so he can focus on his brothers better. “It’s not okay. We’re not okay. We’re fucked up beyond belief and it’s all because you didn’t save us--is that what you want to hear?”
Leo recoils, as if Raph had up and slapped him across the face. “No, of course not--”
“Then shut up! You got us out, and we’re grateful. Leo, I could kiss you right now--trust me, we’re fucking grateful. Thank you, man. Really. We’re not as fucked up as it looks. You guys literally saved our lives, and it doesn’t matter when you did, just that it happened at all. So thank you.”
April interrupts, raising her bandaged hand to signal for Leo and Donnie to shut up. “Leo, Donnie, you and Mikey and Casey pulled us out of hell, and you didn’t get caught up in the flames. You got us out. I can’t say thank you enough times,” and she gives a watery smile as she says it. “And no offense, I’d love to sing your praises a little longer, but I’ve got a headache and I just want to lay here with Raph for a while, if that’s okay.”
Leo makes as if to say something, but Donnie puts a hand on his shoulder. He turns to April, and it’s not until now that Raph notices how wet his eyes are. “Get some rest, and let us know if you need anything. The pain meds should kick in any second now,” he says, then gives Leo a hard nudge.
Leo can’t hold their gaze for more than a few seconds. “I’m sorry,” he says again, quieter this time. Then he lets Donnie lead him out of the lab.
They leave silence behind them. Raph rests his head into his pillow and sighs quietly.
“Your brothers are ridiculous,” April says flatly.
“I don’t blame them. I’d feel the same way. I’d probably be beating myself about it too, actually, if the Shredder and his goons hadn’t done such a good damn job already.”
She smiles, tiredly, sadly. “I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t worry me that you’re already cracking jokes about this whole thing.”
Raph shrugs. “Laugh or cry, ya know? It’s one or the other, and I’m not a big fan of waterworks.”
She smiles again, a little more watery this time. “Raph. I’m only gonna say this once, so listen closely, okay? Before the pain meds kick in we both pass out again.”
“Not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to that--”
“I love you,” says April. “Funny how I never really realized it until we were ready to die together.”
Raph’s gone still all over. He’s quiet for a long time, scared to ruin the moment. At length, he grunts quietly, “It’s not that funny.”
“Really? That’s it? You’re not going to give me shit about my timing?”
Raph snorts out loud at that. “April, you’re talking to the guy who confessed in a dungeon. After getting drugged.”
“You didn’t confess anything,” April argues. “All you said was that the Shredder thought you were in love with me.”
“Yeah, but I never said he was wrong.”
She looks confused for a moment, then excited all at once, the tired in her expression giving way to real joy that he hasn’t seen on her in weeks. It’s a little contagious, actually.
He finds himself mirroring her, smile stretched wide across his face when he finally passes out.
April trepidatiously shimmied past the turnstyle. It had been three days since she'd visited her friends. She worried Raphael had told the others what had happened; that she'd be a joke at their expense - Look at the pathetic human girl who gets her jollies locking lips with turtles! Who'll be next? Leo? Mikey? Or worse, she'd be awaiting a stern lecture from Master Splinter about abusing the affections of his sons and destroying the team's dynamic.
True, she had given Donatello more attention than the others, but that was only to reciprocate the showering affection he bestowed upon her. She felt like she owed it to him after he gave of himself so unselfishly time and time again to save her, her father, and the city. All of those hugs and cheek kisses had been gestures of gratefulness.
The farmhouse kiss? Her heart had ached to hear her faithful friend berate himself for being a mutant. She wanted him to know how special he was. Her instincts had taken over in the moment and she had behaved irrationally, immediately regretting her rashness and bold aggression.
Was it fair? Probably not, she thought in hindsight. Not when it meant so much more to him than it did for her. But that was partially why she had done it - because she knew he'd revel in each touch. What she hadn't planned was falling for Raphael and the potential repercussions all of her transactions with Donatello would cause.
"Come on, Don. One foot in front of the other."
April wasn't sure why, but at the echo of the gruff voice, she ducked back behind the turnstyle. In her hastiness, she bumped her forehead on the long-broken silver spinner. "Ow," she frowned, rubbing the newly forming lump. Small fingers curled around the edge of the cool, rusted metal as she peeked into the living room.
"I'b find, really." Donatello paused to blow into the waiting tissue held out to him. "Led be go back to work. I need to find a cure for ..."
"The only thing ya need to find a cure for is this cold ya got." Raphael carefully guided his congested brother toward the weathered couch, one hand on his shell, the other on his plastron, steadying the wobbly terrapin.
"But I'b so close!" the ailing turtle whined.
"It'll still be there when you're better. What ya need now is rest." He gently pushed his protesting brother onto the couch and covered him with fuzzy flannel. The bright turquoise blanket was threadbare in some spots, but the warmest one they had. "Mikey made new soup this morning. I'll be right back." Shoving the remote into his brother's hand, he closed three olive-toned fingers around the usually coveted item. "Stay."
Raphael nearly dropped the ceramic bowl. Turning back from the microwave, he hadn't expected April to be standing behind him. He grimaced as the searing liquid sloshed over the side, scalding his toe. He tried to disguise his racing heartbeat by narrowing his eyes at her.
"He-hey," she stammered, a finger nervously tracing the edge of the kitchen table.
Raphael rolled his eyes as he attempted to leave the room.
"Wait!" He paused and April lowered her voice to a hushed whisper, not wanting the others to realize her presence. "I think we need to talk about what happened."
"Ain't nothin' to talk about," he scoffed.
Pearly teeth captured lower lip. "But ... the kiss ..." she trailed.
"You kissed me, freaked out, regretted it, whatever, and disappeared for three days."
She reached for his shoulder, but he stepped back, recoiling from her touch. "Is that what you think?"
With a small shrug, he tried to appear nonchalant. "It is what it is. Now, if you'll excuse me, Princess, I have to bring this soup to my brother."
April winced at the emphasis he put on the word brother. "Raph, please, it's not like that. Let's talk about this." Hard shell retreated from her. "Are you ... are you coming back?" She hated the desperation in her voice, how weak sounding he was making her come across.
The hot headed turtle paused in the doorframe, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Yeah."
April passed the time absentmindedly wiping the table with a damp rag. What was she even going to say when he came back? He was acting so betrayed, like she was intentionally messing with his feelings.
With an exaggerated sigh to make his return known, Raphael leaned against the fridge, left leg cocked at the knee, so his restless foot could tap against it.
April opened her mouth and then closed it, words failing her.
"You know what he said to me out there? He thanked me for being a good brother." Crossed arms folded over his plastron, dryly cracking, "Heh, funny. I don't feel like a good brother."
April took a tentative step in his direction. "But we didn't do anything wrong."
Raphael raised his brow ridges at the young girl. "Seriously, April? You know he likes you."
The blue rag twisted in her agile hands as she dropped her gaze with a shameful admittance. "I know. And for a short while, I thought maybe I might like him." Reassuringly, she lifted her face to meet Raphael's perplexed stare to prove her sincerity. "But, I don't. I got caught up in the idea of him liking me. That's how I know it's different with you. I - "
"Us being together - it ain't right."
"Why not? It's not my fault Donnie likes me. Just like I can't help it that I like you ..." She blushed with the confession.
Raphael shifted his jaw. He felt he should protest, convince her that she couldn't possibly have a romantic interest in him. However, he felt that warm glow growing in the pit of his stomach, ignited by her persistence.
"April, we - "
Both teens froze when a tea green turtle entered the room. Leonardo, cornflower blue towel draped around his shoulders, shifted his gaze suspiciously between the two.
"Take a picture; it'll last longer." Raphael finally snapped, breaking his brother's penetrating stares.
"I just came in here to get a coconut water. Is that okay?"
Raphael side stepped the fridge, making a sweeping gesture toward the appliance.
Gripping the bottle more tightly than necessary, steel blue eyes lingered on the duo as he backed out of the room.
April's voice broke the trance the eldest brother held. "Raph, I think we have something here worth giving a chance. And I understand not wanting to tell your family about it right away."
Right away? How could he ever tell his family about this? They'd never understand - or forgive him.
Yet, the idea of having a girlfriend thrilled him. He'd never thought he'd find love, so he'd long banished that hope. But now, there was a possibility.
Sighing, he'd give one more attempt at being a loyal brother. He stretched he neck side to side. "I don't know the first thing about being a good boyfriend. I don't exactly have a reputation for being nice."
April laid a hand on his chiseled shoulder. A smile quirked up the edges of her petite mouth. "I don't know ... that was pretty sweet of you to bring out that soup to Donatello."
"Heh, yeah," he quietly agreed. Although Raphael wasn't so sure the act could be qualified as being sweet if he wondered if it was done more out of guilt.
"Come on, is that all you got?" the red-banded turtle taunted, waving his weapon in his opponent's direction.
The fiery redhead charged with her tessen, swinging at her sparring partner only to be blocked by his sai. The sweat dripped from her brow as she relentlessly tried to best him, repeatedly stopped by the skilled ninja.
April hadn't planned on the impromptu training session. She'd come to visit her friends to find only Raphael was available. Splinter was meditating in the dojo. Donatello was in his lab, working on his latest project with strict orders not to be disturbed. And, at Splinter's request that the two opposites needed to bond more, Leonardo and Michelangelo were traipsing through the sewer system. It made April chuckle to imagine how Mikey must be trying poor Leo's nerves with his short attention span. Raphael was pummeling the punching bag. After discovering it was just the two of them, April flashed her tessen and with a mischievous glint in her eye, asked, "Wanna spar?"
April was starting to regret her challenge. Raphael was not taking it easy on her in the slightest. The exhausted kunoichi was getting ready to admit defeat when she spied one of Mikey's My Little Bronies on the floor. She ducked out of the way when Raph sent a flying kick and seized the opportunity. She darted up, grabbed his ankle, and pushed back with all of her strength. Surprised, Raphael faltered for a moment, but that was all she needed. April charged, causing him to trip over the colorful forgotten object. As he fell, he grabbed the sleeve of April's shirt, pulling her down on top of him.
Raphael chuckled as he lay on his shell. He removed the crushed toy from underneath him and tossed it to the side. "Dirty trick, O'Neil. Wait til Mikey gets back. I'm gonna hand him his shell for this."
April was breathing heavily while lying on top of his plastron, although more from nerves or the fight, she wasn't sure. Bright blue irises locked into his emerald green eyes, making him stop his griping. In the silence, she bent down and placed her lips on his.
Startled, Raphael pushed her away. "April! What the hell?!"
Cheeks flushing as red as her hair, April scrambled to sit up. "I, I thought you wanted to. Sorry," she mumbled. Head down, she made her way to the ledge in the living room and swung her legs over the side.
"You thought I wanted to?! Why?!" Raphael stayed glued to his spot, too shocked to move.
"Never mind," she buried her head in her hands. "It's dumb."
Raphael groaned in frustration. As embarrassing as this was for him, he knew it was worse for her. He reluctantly joined her on the ledge.
April exhaled when he sat next to her. Maybe she hadn't ruined everything. She attempted a feeble explanation. "I mean, you're always asking me to spar …"
"Because you want to get better, right? And who else is gonna train with you and not go easy on ya?"
April bit her lip and faced away from Raphael. He gently placed his hand on her thigh.
April whipped her head back to face him. "That's part of it. You always manage to find ways to touch me."
Raphael jerked his hand away in disgust at how she viewed his actions. "Because I tried to comfort you and make you feel better about this?"
April maintained her indignance. "How about when you put your arm around my shoulders? It always seems to linger there a little longer than it should." Unwavering, she held her chin up high and forced eye contact with him.
He opened his mouth to insist that she was wrong, but quickly snapped it shut. Realization started to dawn on Raphael. Had he been inappropriate with April? Was he sending her signals? Did he have feelings for her deep down?
After several moments of silence, his voice was so low, April had to struggle to hear him. "It ain't right for us to be like that. What about my brother? Or Casey?"
April sighed. "Donnie's really sweet, but the way he dotes on and fawns over me … I can't take it. It's too smothering. Plus, he treats me like I'm fragile, like one of his beakers, and he's afraid I'll break."
Raphael nodded. "And Casey?"
"Casey's got the IQ of a pickle. I need someone who's strong and smart, someone who's not afraid to challenge me."
"I ain't that smart." It was Raphael's turn to look away.
April softly touched the side of his face and made him turn toward her. "You're a lot more than you give yourself credit for. Look, Raph, after everything that's happened with the Kraang, Shredder, the city, my dad … I've learned life is very uncertain. But, I know this. I know that I want you. And I think you want me, too."
Before he could protest, she moved her hand to the knot of his mask and pushed his face into hers. Raphael was about to pull back when he realized he was enjoying this. And she was right - he did want it, too, even if he wasn't willing to admit it out loud. This was unlike anything he'd ever experienced, the warmth of her lips slowly seeping into his body. He kissed her back eagerly, his hands grasping her slender shoulders.
April smiled into the kiss and trailed her fingers up his plastron, pausing at his lightning bolt crack. She continued to the dip in his collar bone, where she traced small circles onto his pebbled skin, making him moan in her mouth.
Raphael slid his hand down the length of her arm until he reached the hem at the base of her shirt. He rubbed the material between his fingers, and sensing no protest, began to lift the yellow fabric.
The creaking of metal behind them caused the two teens to hastily break apart. Each placed their hands in their own lap and stared in the opposite direction.
Donatello emerged from his lab, goggles above his mask. "Honestly! All this noise! How do you expect me to concentrate and finish up this cure for ..." He then noticed his crush and became flustered. "Oh! He- Hey, April. When did you get here?" He grabbed the goggles and hid them behind his back.
April's face reddened as she nervously ran a shaky hand through her pony tail. "Oh, a little while ago. Raph and I were practicing - ninja stuff."
"Okay, let me wrap things up in there and I'll come out and join you two."
"Sure, Don, that'd be great." Raphael supplied a monotone response while avoiding eye contact with his brother.
As the steel door clanged shut, the two teens glanced at each other guiltily.
Summary: Raph is really bad at this whole ‘crush’ thing.
notes: im gonna be posting all my raphrilweek stuff here to keep it from swamping my main blog. so get ready for fluff and shit i guess
read it on ao3!
(edit: fixed the formatting errors. sorry about that!)
+
“Hypothetically speaking, if I needed to ask you about something–anything, even embarrassing shit–could I?”
Donnie doesn’t flinch, not that Raph’s surprised. His brothers got his hands wrist-deep in some weird shit from the junkyard, the color staining his skin almost worse than the stink, but not quite. It’s a miracle if Donnie hears him at all, when he’s like this–entirely focused on sciencing the hell out of New Yorkers’ shit, up to and including the literal kind.
“What if I wanted to know a science thing? Like some biological shit. I can’t exactly google stuff about mutants, you know?” he continues, idly cracking his knuckles with the palm of his other hand. “Could I ask you about that?”
The thing Donnie’s working on shudders a stuttering sigh and then sputters to life, briefly, before whirring spectacularly and shutting down again. Donnie pencils something down and then starts tweaking it.
“What if I–”
“If I say ‘yes, you can ask’ will that shut you up quicker?”
Raph nods.
This time the long-suffering sigh comes from Donnie. “Fine, then. My answer is yes. Hand me the 15.” He gestures at the wrench sitting by Raph’s elbow, palm up and waiting expectantly.
Raph drops it into his open hand, and Donnie makes a sound akin to a grunt that most likely means ‘thank you.’ He hunches over his – it looks like a miniature blender; Raph doesn’t even want to know – and sets to work again.
“You ever –”
“Torque, please.”
“–seen someone and kinda felt - dizzy?”
For the first time since Raph sauntered into his lab, Donnie looks interested. He gives Raph a bemused look as he accepts the torque. “Dizzy?”
“Dizzy,” Raph confirms. “And, uh, sweaty.”
“Sweaty.”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm,” says Donnie, which is Donnie-speak for ‘ I am trying to bullshit something .’ It’s not a reassuring sound, and Raph scowls at him.
“Well?”
“Dizziness and sweat are symptoms of a lot of different things, Raph. It could be fever or flu or a bug, or exhaustion or dehydration.” Then Donnie grins. “Or something else entirely.”
“Something else like what?”
“Infatuation,” Donnie says with all the calm of a peaceful day at sea.
Raph chokes on the spot, making a loud enough spectacle that Donnie tears his eyes off his robot to send a smirk his way.
“That’s definitely not it,” Raph croaks, trying to ignore the weakness of his own voice. “It’s probably that fever thing.”
“Mhmm.”
“Yeah, I’ve been feeling a little warm, lately. And not just because I was laying in the sun or something.”
“Mhmm,” Donnie repeats, somehow more smug than the last time.
Raph pushes himself off Donnie’s lab table and gets the hell out of dodge.
+
The end of the world takes place in Donnie’s lab the next morning.
Raph’s still rubbing sleep out of his eyes, oblivious to the fate he’s walking into, and Donnie’s name is barely a grunt through his teeth when he cracks open one of his eyes and feels the air get sucked right out of his body.
It’s been about a month since any major events–a month since they saved the redhead girl and dropped her off on her fire escape, and a month of her sneaking into the sewers every night to come say hi. If Raph’s going to be honest, he’s pretty amazed by her stubbornness is damn impressive–but he’s not about to write sonnets about her or anything.
But standing next to Donnie is April, a mess of hair sitting on her shoulders and in a strange combination of tiny shorts and an oversized t-shirt, glasses on her nose and slouched in the universal ‘it’s too early for this shit’ position, and looking at her suddenly feels like staring at the sun.
She looks like she crawled out of bed no more than five minutes ago, but Raph suddenly has iambic pentameter in his head–and he doesn’t even know why he knows what that is, let alone why he wants to apply it to the way April looks right now–
April notices him then, and from her stooped over position over Donnie’s shoulder graces Raph with a small, sleepy smile. “Morning, Raph.”
He just stares at her, suddenly dizzy. He blinks, trying as hard as he can to instantly forget everything he’s ever accidentally learned about poetry, and manages a short, “Hi,” in response.
Donnie is hunched over a microscope and furiously scribbling something down, something Raph decidedly doesn’t care about. “April stayed the night,” he says in a perfect monotone, his mind no doubt a million miles away.
You sonuvabitch, Raph doesn’t say. But he gives Donnie a look that pretty much translates to the same thing.
April snickers, nudging Donnie with her fist, and though he doesn’t look up he does allow himself a satisfied smile. “Sorry, sorry, I thought Donnie ran it by you guys last night. He wanted help with this new experiment, and I’m sort of the head of the chemistry club at school so I figured I’d stay to help…and we, uh, got a little carried away.”
“Uh huh,” Raph says.
“We’re running on an unholy amount of coffee and enough of whatever the hell’s in energy drinks to be illegal,” Donnie offers. “But I think this compound should make a good fuel source. Uh, that, or a really, really strong deodorant. I’m not really sure yet.” He brightens visibly, the side of his mouth quirking up, “If it turns out to be the latter, you might want to borrow some, Raph. For that fever you think you’ve got.”
That kicks Raph’s brain into gear again, and he slaps his palm against his forehead. “Shut up, Don.”
April’s eyes go soft with concern. “Are you feeling sick, Raph?”
Looking at her feels like staring directly into the sun, so Raph keeps his eyes trained on Donnie in a death-glare. “No, I’m, uh, fine. Seriously.” He quickly directs the conversation back to the two of them, “Did you guys get any sleep at all?”
Neither Donnie nor April say a word.
“He might’ve dozed around four,” she says, not sounding confident in the slightest.
“Jesus Christ,” Raph deadpans. “Whatever, man, it’s your funeral. We’ve got training in ten–if you’re late again Splinter’s gonna smack you into next week.”
“Training?” April tilts her head to the side–her glasses slip down her nose. “Can I watch?”
Is she talking to Raph? She’s looking at him all expectantly and shit but he’s not about to look her in the eye and answer her; who the fuck is comfortable enough to walk around a hot mess a month into being friends with someone, anyway? And who the fuck looks that good in coke-bottle glasses?
“Maybe you should change first,” Donnie suggests. “But after that, sure! You’ll get to see the glamorous four hours of training we put ourselves through because gods-know-why.”
April laughs, nice and easy, and Raph grunts again before getting the hell out of dodge.
+
So. The end of the world.
It happens because April wear booty shorts to bed.
Raph has seen girls before–on TV and magazines and comics and so on, and he’s always thought of them as okay. The same level of okay as guys. Humans are kind of weird, to say the least; he’s not really head over heels for any of them (though Serena Williams is this close to being an exception) so forgive him if he’s a little confused about why April makes his heart want to beat right out of his chest.
He’s seen her when she’s not half-asleep, when her hair is pulled back and she’s wearing her usual outfit, and he think she looks nice, sure, but he didn’t go nuts over her then. So why the hell did he practically lose his mind over the sight of her in pajamas.
End of the world is the only reasonable explanation; everything’s going to shit, and he’s going crazy.
By the time April slips into the dojo, she’s in jeans and a correctly-fitting shit, but her hair’s still loose around her shoulders and she’s still got her glasses hooked over her ears. Raph’s mid-kata when he gets a look at her, and she waves when their eyes meet, and like clockwork, he trips over his own goddamn foot and falls face forward.
Shitshitshitshitshit–
Leo snorts loudly, pausing to rest on his knees and shoot Raph the smuggest damn look. “You okay, Raphie?” He offers a hand to pull him up.
Raph’s not really sure of what’s happening, but he can hear Mikey and Donnie snickering, and April somewhere between laughing and yawning. Which is way more upsetting than it should be. He knocks Leo’s hand aside and stands up, grumbling under his breath, only stopping when Sensei calls him out.
He starts the kata over and tries his best to pretend that the world as he knows it isn’t ending right before his eyes.
+
So, Leo’s an asshole.
Breakfast is some weird fruity pancake stuff that April skips the last hour of training to go buy, and Raph’s never had a fruit in his life, but he’s gotta say, strawberries definitely have something going for them. (He eats every last strawberry in the vicinity, including April’s, but only because she offered them and he could eat them without looking directly at her.)
But it’s after April leaves to go to the bathroom and while Raph’s got a mouthful of orange juice that Leo leans over and says, “So, April, huh?”
Raph huurks and the juice goes dribbling down his chin.
Leo laughs. Because he’s an asshole.
“Shut up,” Raph growls, wiping the juice away with the back of his hand.
“She’s really nice. And her hair smells like strawberries. I’m just surprised it took you this long to realize you like her,” Leo says extra-casually. (He draws out the word strawberries and Raph wants to punch himself for walking right into that one.)
“Shut u– I don’t like her– ” Raph hisses. “I mean, I like her but I don’t–like-like her.”
“Aside from being a direct quote from a twelve-year-old, that’s most definitely a lie,” Donnie says factually.
“What?”
“Raph,” says Donnie, placatingly, “you’re my brother, and I love you, but you’ve got to be the most clueless meathead I’ve ever met.”
“Clue me in, then.”
“Of course you like April,” Donnie says. “You’re a tongue-tied mess around her and all those ‘symptoms’ you were complaining about aren’t a fever. The only thing you’re coming down with is one hell of a crush.”
When Donnie says it all out loud, it sounds–well, right –but also humiliating in a way that makes Raph want to sink right through the floor. On his left, Leo’s grinning wide, all bright white teeth and sparkling eyes; on his right Donnie looks smug in a very matter-of-fact way, and it’s probably a miracle Mikey’s not around or else he’d be an even worse reaction than the two of them combined.
“I don’t–” Raph starts.
But then he thinks about it.
It’s not as rare an occurrence as Leo likes to think; Raph puts a lot of thought into some things. Feelings-things. He doesn’t say much about emotions but he feels that more acutely than any of his family does, he feels every little sharp spike of anger or rising wave of happiness. He feels every single moment of despair or surprise or confusion.
He feels a lot of different things about April.
Her second trip to the lair had been a pretty momentous thing. It was the first time she came alone, for one, and the first time Raph got to talk to her alone. (That was when he learned about their mutual love for Charred Walls, and the first time she’d ever mentioned school and the human world to him–and they’d talked about movies and people and just about everything.)
“I mean, I just–”
He’s only known her for a month. And that’s an impossibly long time to him, because he’s never known anyone outside of his family for a month. But in real time, a month isn’t that long. It’s long enough for April to feel comfortable staying in the layer in PJs but it’s not long enough for Raph to justify having his stomach in his throat every time he sees her.
But then again…does he really need justification?
“Oh, shit,” Raph says out loud, his voice a little hoarse.
“Aaaand there it is,” says Donnie.
Raph stares at him with wide eyes, caught somewhere between definite terror and tentative curiosity. He nearly jumps out of his skin when Leo touches his shoulder, and the smile on his face has softened into something faintly sympathetic.
“Like I said, I’m surprised it took so long.”
Raph kind of wants to shrug his hand off, but it’s the only solid thing in his mind right now, everything else is upside down and spinning. He’s dizzy from it.
“What took so long?” April says brightly as she strides into the kitchen, Mikey in tow.
Frozen, Raph just stares at her.
“You did,” Leo says smoothly, subtly nudging Raph out of his stupor with the heel of his hand. “And I see you brought back a stray.”
Mikey sticks his tongue out at him, but April laughs as she drags Mikey toward her and slings her arm over his shoulders. She’s got an inch or two on him, but she practically disappears behind Mikey’s biceps when he envelopes her in a hug. “He was telling me about you guys and let me tell you, I’ve got so much to show you guys. Starting with sushi. I’ll be dead in my grave before I let you go back to eating worms and algae.”
“You, April O’Neil, are an angel.”
She beams at Donnie, and Raph makes a small sound in the back of his throat that almost sounds like a cry for help.
“Oh, Raph! You’ve got to try strawberry shortcake–my aunt makes the best kind. I’ll bring some for you next time, heavy on the berries. How’s that sound?”
He’s all too aware of Leo’s gaze on him, and Donnie’s too-aloof edge in his shoulders as the two of them wait for Raph to trainwreck.
Instead, he sucks down a deep breath and manages to look at April for longer than a glance. “Sounds good, April.”
“Great! It’s a date.” And then Mikey blows a loud raspberry into her neck and April’s too busy squirming out of his grasp to notice the flushed look on Raph’s face.
“Shut up,” he tells Leo and Donnie before they can get a word in edgewise.
It’s a date, he thinks to himself, and turns his head to the side so no one can see him smile.
