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Raph is very lost right now, not physically lost but lost as in ‘what the hell do I do with a baby reindeer’ lost. How did a reindeer even get all the way here?? He will assume it’s a stray that had somehow escaped that Shortsville Reindeer Farm or whatever it's called, though it’s still a strange concept to him. The poor thing looks at him like a scared puppy, totally not because he's a huge spikey snapper mutant.
‘’Now what do I do with you, huh little guy?’’ Raph sighs and the reindeer ‘honks’ at him. Unable to handle the cuteness, Raph picks it up, cradling it as he carries it through the city, holding it tighter as Raph leaps from rooftop to rooftop and towards the lair, being as careful as he can while they descend into the sewers. Raph proceeds to sneak the baby reindeer into his room to think about his next steps with the baby. The baby keeps grunting and honking, generally being loud and this makes Raph panic, he definitely doesn’t want his brothers or father to see a random baby reindeer in the lair. Not until he figures out what to do with it.
Raph figures he should probably feed it and give it water to possibly shush it, the only problem is he has no idea what reindeer eat. A quick research tells him what he should get; hay, pellets, grain and grazing greens. Amazing, they have absolutely none of that. A second quick research tells him where to get hay at least and Raph is on a mission, quite a fun and relaxed one he thinks to himself. Unfortunately for him, he runs into his brothers on his way out, flinching when they pop out of nowhere with smug grins gracing their annoying little faces.
Raph lets out a long, quiet sigh. ‘’What is it you three?’’ he asks, trying to get this over with as quickly as possible. The snapper also prays the baby doesn’t make a noise now that Leon, Donnie and Mikey can hear it, they’re definitely too close to his room so he starts walking away knowing they would follow him. And they fortunately do.
‘’When did you get home?’’ Leon begins.
‘’Uh, about five minutes ago, why ya asking?’’ ‘’Just wondering, anyway, did you see any new Jupiter Jim merch while you were out? Something you particularly like?’’ he asks, Mikey elbows him to the side and Raph can’t help an amused eye roll ‘’Just get me a Best Brother in the world mug.’’ he jokes "Anyway, I gotta go again I err forgot to grab some things." he says quickly, trying to get away from his brothers and they corner him with suspicious looks.
"Where are you going again?" Donnie asks, Raph feels sweat slip down his shell "Er, I forgot to get some things?" "What things?"
Crap, think fast think fast-
"Snacks! I thought we could all have a Jupiter Jim and Lou Jitsu movie marathon tonight?" he says, a nervous smile stretching across his face. Leon squints at him "I can smell your nervous smell, you're lying."
"I'm really not! I'm nervous because-I...I thought you wouldn't? Want to?"
Mikey frowns immediately, eyes wide with surprise "Why wouldn't we want to? Of course we do, big bro!" he exclaims, jumping into his arms for a hug and Raph has to chuckle, Leon and Donnie join the hug as well with their own words of reassurance. "Yeah, that makes me feel better." Raph says, hugging the younger three back.
"Well, gotta go get those snacks! You guys get ths living room ready alright?" with that the snapper jogs out, making sure the reindeer is locked in his room before actually going out again. Disguise on, stealth mode through the city while he finds the hay store. Hay, check. Next stop, movie snacks.
Now how does he sneak the hay into the lair? He has to make sure his brother's are busy...aha!
Raph waits until he gets close to the lair so he can call Leon, anxiously waiting for the younger to pick up. When he does Raph asks if everything is ready, an excited yes and a ramble is his response. Damn it.
"Uh well, how about you three make us sandwiches to start off the night huh? I think I could use some toasts."
Leon hums in thought "Yeah! I think we have everything we need for toasts!"
"Cool, get to that! I'm home soon." "Ookay, see ya soon big guy." Great! Plan's working great!
Raph slips inside the lair, easily making it to his room. When the reindeer sees him and food it starts happily jumping for it. And loudly. Raph panics and sets the hay down for it to eat, and it happily does so. As the reindeer eats, Raph observes, not knowing what to do with it. He definitely can't leave it alone, and it's helpless, cute and *damn it he already likes the little guy!*
"Think I'll name you Honkers." Raph mumbles, the reindeer 'honks' at him in response, Raph chuckles at it. He hears one of his brothers ask about him. Shit..
He grabs the snacks and dashes into the kitchen with a quick "I'll be back soon Honkers!"
Raph drops the snacks on the table with a grin "Snacks!" the snapper announces, the others cheer as they grab their favourites and the four are off to the living room.
Throughout the first few movies something felt off to Raph. He excused himself, saying something about bathroom and ran to his room only to see Honkers gone and he panics. Where could a reindeer in a sewer go??
"Hey Raph?"
Shit.
"Yes?" "What..is a reindeer doing in the lair?"
Shit. Raph gives a guilty smile as he appears in front of his brothers and they look at him questionably.
"Well you see- I just couldn't leave him! He was so helpless and I felt bad! So meet Honkers and no, I ain't giving him back." explains Raph and the three laugh. Confused, Raph asks "What?" and Mikey scoops up Honkers, beaming at the eldest "Like hell we're making you get rid of him! He's sooo cute!" he says.
Relief passes through Raph's shell when he hears those words from Mikey. He smiles and picks up Honkers
"Welcome to the family then Honkers!"
Since then, it has been fun. Really fun. Honkers grew to love the other three, but his favourite was Raph. Visibly.
Raph was happy about it, he loved Honkers a lot too. He felt really nice about it, being a pet's favourite was a really nice feeling.
Raph also liked taking care of Honkers, he was really good, calm. Honkers loved to follow Raph around too, wherever he went. It was endearing to him. What was even better was bedtime when Honkers would hop into Raph's bed and snuggle next to him, lovingly licking his whole face before they fall asleep.