Terrified

Part 1

He had been following you for weeks. For your protection, he told himself. Especially since you always walked alone, your headphones covered your ears with music blaring so loud he could hear it on the top of a five-story building. Deep down though, he knew he was being a creep. And it disgusted him. But there was no way he was going to just make his way down off the rooftops and casually introduce himself.

No, he could only imagine your disgust. Your fear. He'd much rather continue fantasizing that you two would be the best of friends, at the very least. Rarely did he let his fantasies get beyond that of friendship, but when they did he made sure to let it out in an extra workout or two. Or stay out to catch a few more thugs than usual; the kind with trigger fingers. The kind Master Splinter hated for him and his brothers to go after. They weren't completely bulletproof, after all. But what his father didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.

Or so he continued to tell himself.

A bell dinged, signifying the last customer was leaving the used book store you worked at, a bag filled with books hanging at their side. Raph could swear it was the only book store in the city that stayed open until midnight. He thought it was crazy book nerds would want to buy books late in the night. He thought they were the hermit, early riser types who preferred to go to bed early. That is, until he started "protecting" you.

You've proved him wrong on countless occasions. Not that you knew this. Nor would you ever know if he had any say about it. You've even convinced him to start reading without a single conversation. In secret, that is. He had a reputation to protect and didn't want to hear any crap from his brothers, especially Leo. If Mikey found out, he could always beat it out of his memory. As for Donnie...he'd probably get excited and shove all his sciencey books at him. He shivered in disgust. Science wasn't his forte, but he had discovered he enjoyed history. The thought brought a small smile to his face that grew when he noticed you were about to walk out the glass door.

"Night, Lori! I'll see you in a couple of days," you waved your co-worker goodbye before earnestly looking for your headphones in the red backpack you seemed to always have with you, attaching them to your phone, and setting them on your head. The red headphones were stark against your hair and seemed too big on your small head. Then again, everything about you was small compared to him.

He moved closer, following you on the ground through the alleys instead of hopping rooftop to rooftop. Your head bobbed to the music as you stepped to the beat. He found that to be cute and doubted you did that consciously. He chuckled at the scene, wishing desperately he could walk you home in front everyone, maybe hold your hand.

Raph growled, fisting his hands, frustrated he let his thoughts wander- again. It didn't help that his least favorite part of the night was looming before him.

~~~~~~~~~~

You walked down the stairs into the subway station, smiling wide, excited about the new book you bought at the end of your shift. You planned on starting it in the morning and not stopping until it was finished. You had two days off, and you were going to enjoy it to the fullest. It helped that your roommate was gone for the week to visit family. Not that you didn't absolutely adore her, but it would be nice to be completely alone for a couple of days. Her energy was literally off the wall and it could get exhausting, to say the least. Just thinking about your childhood best friend had you smiling even wider- something you didn't realize was possible. You two had always been the complete opposite. She was always talking to strangers, dragging you to parties when you hadn't gone anywhere but work for weeks, and inviting friends over for game nights. Whereas you preferred the quiet of your own bedroom, listening to music, and reading a good book. Without her, you would've never moved from your small-town home to New York. Somehow, your introverted self had fallen in love with the big city and you wouldn't change it for the world.