A Turtle's Heart

Brotherly Support

Raph opened his eyes and yawned, but when he tried to stretch something stopped him. It was Y/N, the teenager he had spent so many nights with, so many afternoons worrying about. It felt nice to be able to wake up by their side, to see them calm and at ease after yesterday's fiasco.

Not wanting to wake them up, Raph didn't move. He lied like this for a while, maybe an hour, before Y/N began to wake on their own.

Y/N mumbled something unidentifiable as their eyes fluttered open. Raph quickly closed his, not wanting to let them know he was awake.

"Oh, I should let him sleep," Y/N whispered to themself, slightly shifting closer, sighing deeply into the comfort of his arms. Raph felt his heart melt at this and couldn't find the guts to move or say anything. He decided instead that he'd pretend to have just woken up.

Raph shifted a little bit, groaning and slowly opening his eyes as if he hadn't been up for the last hour.

"Morning," Raph uttered in his best morning voice, which wasn't to hard as he hadn't said a word since he woke up and his vocal cords weren't warmed up yet.

"Oh, morning Raph," Y/N stammered, looking up at him, their hair still slightly a mess and their face still covered in dirt and untreated wounds.

"Hey, maybe you should go get cleaned up and have Donnie look at those scratches, make sure they aren't infected," Raph said, propping himself up on his elbow.

"Mm, later, I don't wanna get up yet," Y/N grumbled, pulling Raph's arm out so he fell back down on the bed. Y/N then shuffled closer, pulling the blanket up a bit more and resting their head on Raph's plastron again.

Raph blushed at this and simply wrapped his arms around them again.

"Okay, well, we'll sit here for 20 minutes, then you have to go get cleaned up and checked out," Raph whispered. Y/N nodded before falling back asleep. Raph eventually fell asleep as well.

When the two woke up again, two hours had passed. Of course they lost track of time.

"Hey, Y/N, we should get up," Raph gently nudged them. Y/N groaned, shaking their head and pulling the covers up so they were completely hidden. Raph chuckled and sat up, pulling Y/N up with him and pulling the blanket down to off their head, onto their shoulders.

"Okayy, fine, I do kind of want to take a shower," Y/N smiled up at Raph. Raph smiled back and stood up, picking Y/N up and bundling them in his blanket.

"Hey! Let me go ya big goof!" Y/N shouted jokingly.

"Nope! You're my little burrito now!" Raph playfully chuckled back, hugging them tightly.

"Aaa! To tight! To tight!" Y/N laughed, wiggling in Raph's tight hug.

The two laughed for a while, Raph playfully snuggling up to Y/N's cocooned self while Y/N laughed at his adorable teasing.

"Raph, okay, let me go take a shower and get these wounds checked out," Y/N said once they calmed from their fit of laughter.

"Alright, fine," Raph smiled, unwrapping Y/N and setting them down. Y/N tossed Raph's blanket onto the bed and headed off to Leo's room to get some clothes before their shower.

Raph decided to make sure Donnie was up so he could make sure Y/N was alright once they got out of the shower.

"Hey Donnie, you up?" Raph asked, stepping into the lab.

"Yup, been up for hours, how was your nap?" Donnie replied, not looking up from what he was working on.

"Good, good, just making sure, when Y/N gets out of the shower they want you to look at their cuts on their face and make sure their okay,"

"Alright, sounds good,"

...

There was an awkward pause as Raph fidgeted with his fingers.

"Something on your mind?" Donnie lifted his goggles and turned to his older brother.

"Uh, yeah, I mean, sorta," Raph stammered.

Donnie sighed and shook his head.

"Talk to me boss man," Donnie patted the seat beside him. Raph shuffled over and sat down beside him.

"Alright, spill the tea," Donnie said. Raph took a deep breath, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Okay, I have to tell someone because I'm not sure how much longer I can keep these feelings bottled up. I have been feeling like this for a while now, probably like the last month, maybe more, and I'm not sure how to react or what to do!"

"Feeling like what?"

"I think I like Y/N! Like... like like them! And I don't know what to do!"

Donnie smiled, he knew Raph liked Y/N before he even realized it.

"Okay, well, I think you should tell them how you feel," Donnie grinned.

Raph nervously rubbed his neck.

"What... What if they don't like me the same way?" Raph began to panic as his mind reeled in all the possibilities of how he could be rejected.

"Hey, Hey, Raph, calm down big bro, worst that happened is they don't like you back, but why wouldn't they?! You are literally the nicest person I know!" Donnie tried to comfort his brother. He wasn't the best at comfort but he tried his hardest.

Raph sighed, he knew his brother was trying his hardest.

"Hey guys, I'm out," Y/N shouted from the hallway, making their way down the hall towards the lab. Raph panicked and stood up, quickly sitting back down, unsure why he had stood.

Y/N entered the lab in a T-shirt and some shorts Leo had lent them and waved at the two turtles.

Raph nervously waved back and Donnie chuckled, getting up to get his med kit.

Y/N walked over and sat down beside Raph, smiling at the red clad terrain.

Raph got butterflies from Y/N's smile. Their (e/c) eyes had his stomach doing flips and he heart skipping beats.

"Get ahold of yourself man! You're going to scare them off!" Raph mentally scolded at himself. Donnie came back and set his things down on the table beside Y/N.