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He woke up at 8am-ok, that's weird. Raph usually wakes up at 6am. Did he sleep in? The only time he does that is when-
Oh. He can feel it now. It's one of those days, where he just wants to stuff his face into his pillow and mope because he's having flashbacks and isn't feeling good.
Even though Raph wanted to stay in bed, he got out anyway. He put on his gear, brushed his teeth and headed into the kitchen where he saw that chaos already began.
"Give me the syrup, Mikey!"
"No way, Leo! You're gonna waste it!"
"Ugh you guys are so annoying-"
"Shut it, Don!"
"Ah, another day, another normal breakfast," Raph muttered, striding in and taking a seat. His brothers stopped arguing immediately, Leo grumbling something about having to eat pancakes without syrup.
"Good morning, Raph," Mikey greeted, already having placed a stack of pancakes onto a plate for his older brother.
"Mornin'," the snapper responded as he stared at the pancakes silently. He was never really hungry on days like these, and he didn't really want to eat anything soft for that matter. But he didn't want his brothers worrying, so he ate a pancake whole.
"Guess who's here!~"
All the turtles snapped their heads toward the entrance of the kitchen, where April stood with her hands on her hips.
"Hey, Apes! Didn't expect you to be visiting," Leo said before taking a large bite of his pancake.
April nodded and took her own seat at the table, resting her head on her fist. "So, what're your plans for today?" she asked.
They all shrugged, to which the human rolled her eyes. She glanced at the uneaten pancakes which belonged to Raph. Speaking of Raph, he looked zoned out.
"Raph, you good?" April questioned, worry every-so-slightly lacing her tone. The turtle in question looked startled, as if he didn't know that she was ever there to begin with.
"Yep!" he smiled, taking another bite of pancake, though he looked hesitant to do so.
They continued to eat, chatting here and there. Raph, however, was silent and barely ate anything. April kept sending concerned glances his way, to which he didn't notice. Finally, breakfast was over, and Raph was the first to get up and out of his seat.
"Alright, well, thanks for the pancakes, Mikey. 'm gonna be in my room if any of you need me," the snapper concluded, slightly quickening his pace as he left the kitchen.
Donnie was the next to leave, going to his lab to work on a project. Mikey and Leo decided to leave as well, telling April she could do whatever she wanted while there. The human hummed, deciding to go see if her suspicions were correct. She got up, left the kitchen, and headed towards Raph's room. Once she entered, she could see that her suspicions were definitely correct; Raph was having a bad day. What else could cause him to be stuffing his face in his pillow while curled up as if he just finished having a break down?
She sighed, walking in and sitting down at the edge of her younger brother's bed. April could see she had startled him, since he jumped and quickly sat up. Raph blinked blearily, looking as if he was just about to doze off.
"Need somethin', April?" he asked, fidgeting with his sheets.
April narrowed her eyes, before giving a blunt response, "You're sad, aren't you?"
That seemed to catch Raph off guard because he practically choked on his spit, suddenly finding the floor very interesting. "No..no. Not at all. Why would you think that?" he nervously responded, his 'I'm totally lying right now' stink coming into play.
"Right, right. So you, the one and only Raphael 'Eats Everything On My Plate In A Second' Hamato, who was last to finish your pancakes, isn't sad?" she crossed her arms, giving the red-clad turtle an accusing look.
"Er- ugh, ok. 'm just having..a day, alright? Nothin' to worry about."
April sighed, getting up and forcing Raph up as well. "C'mon, let's go to the Hidden City. You need to get out the lair," she decided, dragging the snapping turtle out of his room. She got her phone out and texted the other three brothers to tell them about her and Raph's absence.
-*-*-
They stepped through the portal, entering the Hidden City. April didn't really know where they were going, she just suggested going without having an actual place to hang out at. The duo walked in silence, the shorter of the two looking everywhere for a place where she could talk to Raph. And then her eyes landed on the place.
"Oh my gosh! It's a Build-A-Bear! Hurry up, Raph!" she called, already running towards the Build-A-Bear. She never expected there to be such a place in the Hidden City; yet here she was. And it was the perfect place to talk to Raph, since he adored stuffed animals with every fiber of his being.
The turtle hurried after his sister, excitement sparkling in his eyes at the idea of being able to make a plushie, though he wasn't all too excited to have to talk about his feelings.
Once they were in the building and they had already decided their plushies, April started to talk, "So, what's got you feeling down, big guy?" she turned her head towards Raph while cotton filled her pig plush.
The alligator snapping turtle hesitated, but he'd been brought this far anyway, so he might as well. "I'm just havin' a day. Not feelin' good, havin' flashbacks, all that stuff." He reached for a stuffed heart for his bear plushie.
"What kind of flashbacks?"
Raph didn't respond. Didn't really want to. He just continued on with his plushie, trying to think of names instead of his situation.
"Raphael-"
"The Kraang," he quipped in a low tone, making April raise her brows.
The human frowned, staring at the many accessories silently. She shook her head lightly. "It's fine to be sad about it, y'know. It was a traumatizing experience that one can't simply forget."
"Yea, I know that, 's just-" Raph started before instantly getting interrupted.
"Nuh-uh, we aren't doing the whole 'I'm the oldest so I can't let my brothers worry for me' thing again," April chided, fixing the glasses on her pig plushie.
The red-clad turtle groaned quietly but understood and finished up with his stuffed animal. The two left the workshop, heading back to the lair in comfortable silence, before it was broken by the oldest.
"You're a hypocrite, you know that? Always trying to get other people to talk to you about their emotions while you don't talk to others about yours."
Raph slightly hunched over, tightening his hold on his new stuffed animal. He sighed and muttered something about knowing that fact. They continued on, leaving the Hidden City and climbing into the sewers. April texted the boys about something that the other didn't know, but he shrugged it off as her telling them that the duo was back.
As soon as his brothers saw him, he was brought into a group hug (with Donnie only by his side with a hand on his shoulder). He yelped, staring down at them with a questioning gaze before realizing that April probably told them about what he was going through. He grunted, but tension leaked from his body, and he hugged back.
After that, they decided to go on a Lou Jitsu movie marathon. Raph felt relaxed, happy with his bear--now known as Grizzington--in his arms. He might not be able to visit April every time he's feeling down, but he's just glad to have an older sibling to begin with.
He was glad to have April. His oldest sister. His only sister. And he's glad that he has his brothers, and his dad even though the rat wasn't really there for all of them during childhood.
He's glad to have a family.